THE  RENASCENCE 

OF 

HEBREW   LITERATURE 


THE  RENASCENCE 

OF 

HEBREW  LITERATURE 

(1743-1885) 

N 

BY 

NAHUM   SLOUSCHZ 

Translated  from  the  French 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  JEWISH  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY  or  AMERICA 
1909 


COPYRIGHT,  1909. 

BY 
THE  JEWISH  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 


TRANSLATOR'S  NOTE 

The  modern  chapter  in  the  history  of  Hebrew 
literature  herewith  presented  to  English  readers 
was  written  by  Dr.  Nahum  Slouschz  as  his  thesis 
for  the  doctorate  at  the  University  of  Paris,  and 
published  in  book  form  in  1902.  A  few  years 
later  (1906-1907),  the  author  himself  put  his 
Essay  into  Hebrew,  and  it  was  brought  out  as  a 
publication  of  the  Tushlyah,  under  the  title  Korot 
ha-Safrut  ha-'Ibrit  ha-Hadashah.  The  Hebrew 
is  not,  however,  a  mere  translation  of  the  French 
book.  The  material  in  the  latter  was  revised  and 
extended,  and  the  presentation  was  considerably 
changed,  in  view  of  the  different  attitude  toward 
the  subject  naturally  taken  by  Hebrew  readers,  as 
compared  with  a  Western  public,  Jewish  or  non- 
Jewish. 

The  present  English  translation,  which  has  had 
the  benefit  of  the  author's  revision,  purports  to  be 
a  rendition  from  the  French.  But  the  Hebrew 
recasting  of  the  book  has  been  consulted  at  almost 
every  point,  and  the  Hebrew  works  quoted  by  Dr. 

5 


TRANSLATOR'S  NOTE 

Slouschz  were  resorted  to  directly,  though,  as  far 
as  seemed  practicable,  the  translator  paid  regard 
to  the  author's  conception  and  Occidentalization 
of  the  Hebrew  passages  revealed  in  his  translation 
of  them  into  French. 

HENRIETTA  SZOLD. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION    9 

CHAPTER  I   18 

In  Italy — Moses  Hayyim  Luzzatto 
CHAPTER   II    29 

In  Germany — The  Meassefim 
CHAPTER  III   51 

In  Poland  and  Austria — The  Galician  School 
CHAPTER  IV  93 

In  Lithuania — Humanism  in  Russia 
CHAPTER  V   124 

The  Romantic  Movement — Abraham  Mapu 
CHAPTER  VI   159 

The  Emancipation  Movement — The  Realists 
CHAPTER  VII   172 

The  Conflict  with  Rabbinism — Judah  Leon  Gordon 
CHAPTER  VIII   206 

Reformers  and  Conservatives — The  Two  Extremes 
CHAPTER  IX    224 

The  National  Progressive  Movement — Perez  Smolenskin 
CHAPTER  X   237 

The  Contributors  to  Ha-Shahar 
CHAPTER  XI    248 

The  Novels  of  Smolenskin 
CHAPTER  XII    271 

Contemporaneous  Literature 

CONCLUSION    284 

INDEX    289 

7 


INTRODUCTION 

It  was  long  believed  that  Hebrew  had  no  place 
among  the  modern  languages  as  a  literary  vehicle. 
The  circumstance  that  the  Jews  of  Western  coun- 
tries had  given  up  the  use  of  their  national  lan- 
guage outside  of  the  synagogue  was  not  calculated 
to  discredit  the  belief.  The  Hebrew,  it  was  gen- 
erally held,  had  once  been  alive,  but  now  it  be- 
longed among  the  de?d  languages,  in  the  same 
sense  as  the  Greek  and  the  Latin.  And  when  from 
time  to  time  some  new  work  in  Hebrew,  or  even  a 
periodical  publication,  reached  a  library,  the  cata- 
loguer classified  it  with  theologic  and  Rabbinic 
treatises,  without  taking  the  trouble  to  obtain  in- 
formation as  to  the  subject  of  the  book  or  the  pur- 
pose of  the  journal.  In  point  of  fact,  in  the  large 
majority  of  cases  they  were  far  enough  removed 
from  Rabbinic  controversy. 

Sometimes  it  happened  that  one  or  another  He- 
braist was  overcome  with  astonishment  at  the  sight 
of  a  Hebrew  translation  of  a  modern  author.  And 
he  stopped  at  that.  He  never  went  so  far  as  to 

9 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

enable  himself  to  pass  judgment  upon  it  from  the 
critical  or  the  literary  point  of  view.  To  what 
purpose?  he  would  ask  himself.  Hebrew  has  been 
dead  these  many  centuries,  and  to  use  it  is  an 
anachronism.  He  considered  it  only  a  curiosity  of 
literature,  literary  sleight  of  hand,  nothing  more. 

The  bare  possibility  of  the  existence  of  a  modern 
literature  in  Hebrew  seemed  so  strange,  so  im- 
probable, that  the  best-informed  circles  refused  to 
entertain  the  notion  seriously — perhaps  not  without 
some  semblance  of  a  reason  for  their  incredulity. 

The  history  of  the  development  of  modern  He- 
brew literature,  its  character,  the  extraordinary 
conditions  fostering  it,  its  very  existence,  are  of  a 
sort  to  surprise  one  who  has  not  kept  in  touch  with 
the  internal  struggles,  the  intellectual  currents  that 
have  agitated  the  Judaism  of  Eastern  Europe  in 
the  course  of  the  past  century. 

So  far  from  deserving  a  reputation  for  casuistry, 
modern  Hebrew  literature  is,  if  anything,  distinctly 
rationalistic  in  character.  It  is  anti-dogmatic  and 
anti-Rabbinic.  Its  avowed  aim  is  to  enlighten  the 
Jewish  masses  that  have  remained  faithful  to  re- 
ligious tradition,  and  to  interpenetrate  the  Jewish 
communities  with  the  conceptions  of  modern  life. 

Since  the  French  Revolution  the  ghetto  has  pro- 

10 


INTRODUCTION 

duced  valiant  champions  of  every  good  cause,  poli- 
ticians, legislators,  poets,  who  have  taken  part  in 
all  the  movements  of  their  day.  But  it  has  also 
given  birth  to  a  legion  of  men  of  action  sprung 
from  the  people  and  remaining  with  the  people, 
who,  in  the  name  of  liberty  of  conscience  and  in  the 
name  of  science,  fought  the  same  battles  upon  the 
field  of  traditional  Judaism  that  the  others  were 
fighting  outside. 

A  whole  school  of  literary  humanists  undertook 
the  work  of  emancipating  the  Jewish  masses,  and 
pursued  it  for  several  generations  with  admirable 
zeal.  Hebrew  became  ?n  excellent  instrument  of 
propaganda  in  their  hands.  Thanks  to  their  efforts, 
the  language  of  the  prophets,  inarticulate  for 
nearly  two  thousand  years,  was  developed  to  a 
striking  degree  of  perfection.  It  was  shown  to 
be  a  flexible  medium,  varied  enough  to  serve  as 
the  vehicle  for  any  modern  idea. 

The  great  wonder  is  that  this  modern  literature 
in  Hebrew  made  itself  without  teachers,  without 
patrons,  without  academies  and  literary  salons, 
without  encouragement  in  any  shape  or  form.  Nor 
is  that  all.  It  was  impeded  by  inconceivable  obsta- 
cles, ranging  from  the  fraudulence  of  an  absurd 
censorship  to  the  persecution  of  fanatics.  In  such 

2  11 


circumstances,  only  the  purest  idealism,  and  the 
most  disinterested,  could  have  ventured  to  enter 
the  lists,  and  could  have  come  off  the  victor. 

While  the  emancipated  Jew  of  the  Occident  re- 
placed Hebrew  by  the  vernacular  of  his  adopted 
country;  while  the  Rabbis  were  distrustful  of  what- 
ever is  not  religion;  and  rich  patrons  refused  to 
support  a  literature  that  had  not  the  entree  of  good 
society, — while  these  held  aloof,  the  Maskil  ("the 
intellectual  ")  of  the  small  provincial  town,  the 
Polish  vagabond  Mehabber  ("  author  "),  despised 
and  unknown,  often  a  martyr  to  his  conviction, 
who  devoted  himself  heart,  soul,  and  might  to 
maintaining  honorably  the  literary  traditions  of 
Hebrew, — he  alone  remained  faithful  to  what  has 
been  the  true  mission  of  the  Bible  language  since 
its  beginnings. 

It  is  a  renewal  of  the  ancient  literary  impulse 
of  the  humble,  the  disinherited,  whence  first  sprang 
the  Bible.  It  is  a  repetition  of  the  phenomenon 
of  the  popular  prophet-orators,  reappearing  in 
modern  Hebrew  garb. 

The  return  to  the  language  and  the  ideas  of  an 
eventful  past  marks  a  decisive  stage  in  the  per- 
turbed career  of  the  Jewish  people.  It  indicates 
the  re-awakening  of  national  feeling. 

12 


INTRODUCTION 

The  history  of  modern  Hebrew  literature  thus 
forms  an  extremely  instructive  page  in  the  history 
of  the  Jewish  people.  It  is  especially  interesting 
from  the  point  of  view  of  social  psychology,  fur- 
nishing, as  it  does,  valuable  documents  upon  the 
course  taken  by  new  ideas  in  impregnating  sur- 
roundings that  are  characteristically  obdurate  to- 
ward intellectual  suggestions  from  without.  The 
century-long  struggle  between  free-thinking  and 
blind  faith,  between  common  sense  and  absurdity 
consecrated  by  age  and  exalted  by  suffering,  reveals 
an  intense  social  life,  a  continual  clashing  of  ideas 
and  sentiments. 

It  is  a  literature  that  offers  us  the  grievous 
spectacle  of  poets  and  writers  who  are  constantly 
expressing  their  anxiety  lest  it  disappear  with  them, 
and  yet  devote  themselves  unremittingly  to  its 
cultivation,  with  all  the  ardor  of  despair.  At  their 
side,  however,  we  see  optimistic  dreamers,  worthy 
disciples  of  the  prophets.  In  the  midst  of  the  ruin 
of  all  that  made  the  past  glorious,  and  in  the  face 
of  the  downfall  of  cherished  hopes,  they  lose  not 
an  iota  of  their  faith  in  the  future  of  their  people, 
in  its  speedy  regeneration. 

What  we  have  before  us  is  the  issue  of  the  su- 
preme internal  struggle  that  engaged  the  great 

13 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

masses  of  the  Jews  torn  from  their  moorings  by 
the  disquietude  of  modern  existence.  A  fervent 
desire  for  a  better  social  life  took  possession  of  all 
minds.  The  conviction  that  the  eternal  people  can- 
not disappear  seems  to  have  regained  ground  and 
to  have  been  stronger  than  ever,  and  the  current 
again  set  in  the  direction  of  auto-emancipation. 

It  is  the  true  literature  of  the  Jewish  people 
that  we  are  called  upon  to  examine,  the  product  of 
the  ghetto,  the  reflex  of  its  psychic  states,  the  ex- 
pression of  its  misery,  its  suffering,  and  also  its 
hope.  The  people  of  the  Bible  is  not  dead,  and  in 
its  very  own  language  we  must  seek  the  true  Jewish 
spirit,  the  national  soul. 

Let  not  the  reader  expect  to  find  perfection  of 
form,  pure  art,  in  its  often  monotonous  lyric 
poetry,  or  its  prolix,  didactic  novels.  The  authors 
of  the  ghetto  felt  too  much,  suffered  too  much, 
were  too  much  under  the  dominance  of  a  life  of 
misery,  a  semi-Asiatic,  semi-mediaeval  regime,  to 
have  had  heart  for  the  cultivation  of  mere  form. 
Does  the  Song  of  Songs  fall  short  of  being  a  liter- 
ary document  of  the  first  order  because  it  does  not 
equal  the  dramas  of  Euripides  in  artistic  complete- 
ness? It  is  conceded  that  the  proper  aim  of  the 
artist  is  art,  finished  and  perfect  art,  but  to  the 

14 


INTRODUCTION 

philosopher,  the  social  investigator,  the  important 
thing  is  the  advance  of  ideas. 

The  object  of  the  writer  in  presenting  this  essay 
to  the  public  was  not  to  presume  to  give  a  detailed 
exposition  of  the  development  of  modern  Hebrew 
literature,  accomplishing  itself  under  the  most  com- 
plex of  social  and  political  conditions  and  in  a 
social  milieu  totally  unknown  to  the  public  at  large. 
That  would  have  led  too  far.  It  was  not  even 
possible  to  give  an  adequate  idea  of  all  the  authors 
requiring  mention  within  the  limited  frame  adopted 
perforce.  Besides,  nothing  or  almost  nothing  ex- 
isted in  the  way  of  monographs  that  might  have 
facilitated  the  task.1 

1  In  point  of  fact,  all  that  can  be  cited  are  the  following:  the 
admirable  biographical  essays  on  Mapu,  Smolenskin,  etc.,  by  Reu- 
ben Brainin ;  those  of  S.  Bernfeld  on  Rapoport,  etc.,  these  two  crit- 
ics writing  in  Hebrew;  and  the  sketch  of  our  subject  by  M.  Klaus- 
ner,  in  the  Russian  language.  Besides,  mention  may  be  made  of 
an  article  in  the  Revue  des  Revues,  by  M.  Ludvipol,  of  Paris. 
In  spite  of  the  diversity  of  schools  and  the  conditions  giving  rise 
to  them,  which  are  here  to  be  treated  for  the  first  time  from  the 
point  of  view  of  a  modern  history  of  literature,  the  reader  will 
readily  convince  himself  that  the  subject  lacks  neither  coherence 
nor  unity.  It  is  superfluous  to  say  that  in  this  first  attempt  at  a 
history  of  modern  Hebrew  literature,  the  grouping  of  movements 
and  schools  borrowed  from  the  Occidental  literatures  Is  bound  to 
have  only  relative  value. 

15 


The  aim  set  up  by  the  present  writer  is  merely 
to  follow  up  the  various  stages  through  which 
modern  Hebrew  literature  has  passed,  to  deduce 
and  specify  the  general  principles  that  have 
moulded  it,  and  analyze  the  literary  and  social 
value  of  the  works  produced  by  the  representative 
writers  of  the  epoch  embraced. 

In  a  word,  the  object  is  to  show  how  Hebrew 
poetry  was  emancipated  from  the  tradition  of  the 
Middle  Ages  under  the  influence  of  the  Italian 
humanists,2  how  it  underwent  a  process  of  modern- 
ization, and  served  as  the  model  for  a  literary  re- 
nascence in  Germany  and  Austria.  In  these  two 
countries  Hebrew  letters  were  enriched  and  per- 
fected from  the  point  of  view  of  form  as  well  as 
content.  Finally,  due  to  favorable  circumstances, 
the  Hebrew  language  captured  its  place  as  the  lit- 
erary and  national  language  among  the  Jews  of 
Poland,  and  particularly  of  Lithuania. 

In  this  progress  eastward,  Hebrew  literature  has 
never  been  faithless  to  its  mission.  Two  currents 
of  ideas,  more  or  less  distinct,  characterize  it.  On 
the  one  hand  is  the  intellectual  emancipation  of  the 

s  Especially  Moses  Hayyim  Luzzatto,  in  his  "  Glory  to  the 
Righteous  ",  published  in  1743,  which  has  been  made  the  point  of 
departure  in  the  present  inquiry. 

16 


INTRODUCTION 

Jewish  masses,  which  had  fallen  into  ignorance, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  the  conflict  with  prejudice 
and  Rabbinic  dogmatism ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  awakening  of  national  sentiment  and  Jewish 
solidarity.  These  two  currents  of  ideas  finally  flow 
together  in  contemporaneous  literature,  in  the  crea- 
tion of  the  national  Jewish  movement  in  its  various 
modifications.  During  a  period  of  about  twenty 
years,  since  1882,  the  course  of  events  has  forced 
the  national  emancipation  of  the  Jewish  masses 
upon  their  educated  leaders.  By  the  same  token, 
Hebrew  has  been  assigned  a  dominating  position 
in  all  vital  questions  agitating  Judaism,  and  there 
has  been  brought  about  a  literary  development  that 
is  truly  significant. 


17 


CHAPTER  I 

IN  ITALY 

MOSES  HAYYIM  LUZZATTO 

In  its  precise  sense,  the  term  Renascence  cannot 
be  applied  to  the  movement  that  asserted  itself  in 
Hebrew  literature  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, as  little  as  the  term  Decadence  can  be  ap- 
plied to  the  epoch  preceding  it. 

Long  before  Dante  and  Boccaccio,  as  far  back 
as  the  eleventh  century,  Hebrew  literature,  particu- 
larly in  Spain,  and  to  a  certain  extent  also  in  the 
Provence,  had  reached  a  degree  of  development 
unknown  in  European  languages  during  the  Middle 
Ages. 

Though  the  persecutions  toward  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  and  the  fifteenth  century  crushed  the 
Jewish  communities  in  Spain  and  in  the  Provence, 
they  yet  did  not  succeed  in  annihilating  completely 
the  intellectual  traditions  of  the  Spanish  and 
French  Jews.  Remnants  of  Jewish  science  and 
Jewish  literature  were  carried  by  the  refugees  into 

18 


MOSES  HAYYIM  LUZZATTO 

the  countries  of  their  adoption,  and  in  the  Nether- 
lands, in  Turkey,  even  in  Palestine,  schools  were 
founded  after  a  short  interval. 

But  a  literary  revival  was  possible  only  in  Italy. 
Elsewhere,  in  the  backward  countries  of  the  North 
and  the  East,  the  Jews,  smarting  from  blows 
recently  inflicted,  withdrew  within  themselves. 
They  took  refuge  in  the  most  sombre  of  mysti- 
cisms, or,  at  least,  in  dogmatism  of  the  narrowest 
kind.  The  Italian  Jewish  communities,  thanks  to 
the  more  bearable  conditions  prevailing  around 
them,  were  in  a  position  to  carry  on  the  literary 
traditions  of  Jewish  Spain.  In  Italy  thinkers 
arose,  and  writers,  and  poets.  There  was  Azariah 
dei  Rossi,  the  father  of  historical  criticism;  Messer 
Leon,  the  subtle  philosopher;  Elijah  Levita,  the 
grammarian;  Leon  of  Modena,  the  keen-witted 
rationalist;  Joseph  Delmedigo,  of  encyclopedic 
mind;  the  Frances  brothers,  both  poets,  who  com- 
bated mysticism;  and  many  others  too  numerous 
to  mention.1  These,  together  with  a  few  stray 
writers  in  Turkey  and  the  Netherlands,  imparted  a 
certain  degree  of  distinction  to  the  Hebrew  litera- 
ture of  the  sixteenth  and  the  seventeenth  century. 

1  For  the  greater  part  of  these  writers,  see  Gustav  Karpeles, 
Geschichte  der  jiidischen  Liter atur,  2  voh.,  Berlin,  1886. 

19 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Heirs  to  the  Spanish  traditions,  they  nevertheless 
were  inclined  to  oppose  the  spirit  and  particularly 
the  rules  of  Arabic  prosody,  which  had  put  mana- 
cles upon  Hebrew  poetry.  Their  efforts  were  di- 
rected to  the  end  of  introducing  new  literary  forms 
and  new  concepts  into  Hebrew  literature. 

They  did  not  meet  with  notable  success.  The 
greater  number  of  Jewish  men  of  letters,  whose 
knowledge  of  foreign  literatures  was  meagre,  were 
destined  to  remain  in  the  thrall  of  the  Middle 
Ages  until  a  much  later  time.  As  to  the  unlettered, 
they  preferred  to  make  use  of  the  vernacular, 
which  presented  fewer  difficulties  than  the  Hebrew. 

The  task  of  tearing  asunder  the  chains  that 
hampered  the  evolution  of  Hebrew  in  a  modern 
sense  devolved  upon  an  Italian  Jew  of  amazing 
talent.  He  became  the  true,  the  sovereign  inau- 
gurator  of  the  Hebrew  Renascence. 

Moses  Hayyim  Luzzatto  was  born  at  Padua, 
in  1707.  He  was  descended  from  a  family  cele- 
brated for  the  Rabbinic  scholars  and  the  writers  it 
had  given  to  Judaism,  a  celebrity  which  it  has  con- 
tinued to  earn  for  itself  down  to  our  own  day. 

His  education  was  strictly  Rabbinic,  consisting 
chiefly  of  the  study  of  the  Talmud,  under  the  di- 
rection of  a  Polish  teacher,  for  the  Polish  Rabbis 

20 


MOSES  HAYYIM  LUZZATTO 

had  attained  to  a  position  of  great  esteem  as  early 
as  Luzzatto's  day.  He  lost  little  time  in  initiating 
his  pupil  into  the  mysteries  of  the  Kabbalah,  and 
so  the  early  childhood  years  of  our  poet  were  a 
sad  time  spent  in  the  stifling  atmosphere  of  the 
ghetto.  Happily  for  him,  it  was  an  Italian  ghetto, 
whence  secular  learning  had  not  been  banished 
completely. 

While  pursuing  his  religious  studies,  the  child 
became  acquainted  with  the  Hebrew  poetry  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  with  the  Italian  literature  of  his 
own  time.  In  the  latter  accomplishment  lies  his 
superiority  to  the  Hebrew  scholars  of  other 
countries,  who  were  shut  off  from  every  outside 
influence,  and  held  fast  to  obsolete  forms  and 
ideas. 

From  early  youth  Luzzatto  showed  remark- 
able aptitude  for  poetry.  At  the  age  of  seventeen 
he  composed  a  drama  in  verse  entitled  "  Samson 
and  Delilah  ".  A  little  later  he  published  a  work 
on  prosody,  Leshon  Limmudim  ("  The  Language 
of  Learners",  Mantua,  1727),  and  dedicated  it 
to  his  Polish  teacher.  The  young  man  then  decided 
to  break  with  the  poetry  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
which  hampered  the  development  of  the  Hebrew 
language.  His  allegorical  drama,  Migdal  lOz 

21 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

("The  Tower  of  Victory")  ,2  inspired  by  the  Pastor 
fido  of  Guarini,  was  the  first  token  of  this  reform. 
Its  style  is  marked  by  an  elegance  and  vividness 
not  attained  since  the  close  of  the  Bible.  In  spite 
of  its  prolixity  and  the  absence  of  all  dramatic 
action,  it  continues  to  this  day  to  make  its  appeal 
to  the  fancy  of  the  literary.  A  poetic  breath  ani- 
mates it,  and  it  is  characterized  by  the  artistic 
taste  that  is  one  of  the  distinctions  of  its  author. 

It  was  a  new  world  that  Migdal  (Oz,  by  its 
laudation  of  rural  life,  disclosed  to  the  votaries  of 
a  literature  the  most  enlightened  representatives  of 
which  refused  to  see  in  the  Song  of  Songs  anything 
but  religious  symbolism,  so  far  had  their  apprecia- 
tion of  reality  and  nature  degenerated. 

In  imitation  of  the  pastorals  of  his  time,  though 
it  may  be  with  more  genuine  feeling,  Luzzatto 
sings  the  praises  of  the  shepherd's  life : 

"  How  beautiful,  how  sweet,  is  the  lot  of  the  young  shepherd 
of  flocks !  Between  the  folds  he  leads  his  sheep,  now  walking, 
now  running  hither  and  thither.  Poor  though  he  is,  he  is  full  of 
joy.  His  countenance  reflects  the  gladness  of  his  heart.  In  the 
shade  of  trees  he  reposes,  and  apprehends  no  danger.  Poor 
though  he  is,  yet  he  is  happy 

2  Though  it  was  widely  circulated  in  manuscript,  Migdal  'Oz 
did  not  appear  in  print  until  1837,  at  Leipsic,  edited  by  M.  H. 
Letteris. 

22 


MOSES  HAYYIM  LUZZATTO 

"  The  maiden  who  charms  his  eyes,  and  attracts  his  desire,  in 
whom  his  heart  has  pleasure,  returns  his  affection  with  respon- 
sive gladness.  They  know  naught  but  delight — neither  separation 
nor  obstacle  affrights  them.  They  sport  together,  they  enjoy 
their  happiness,  with  none  to  disturb.  When  weariness  steals 
over  him,  he  forgets  his  toil  on  her  bosom;  the  light  of  her 
countenance  swiftly  banishes  all  thought  of  his  travail.  Poor 
though  he  is,  yet  he  is  happy!"  (Act  III,  scene  i.) 

Alas,  this  call  to  a  more  natural  life,  after 
centuries  of  physical  degeneration  and  suppression 
of  all  feeling  for  nature,  could  not  be  understood, 
nor  even  taken  seriously,  in  surroundings  in  which 
air,  sunlight,  the  very  right  to  live,  had  been  re- 
fused or  measured  out  penuriously.  The  drama 
remained  in  manuscript,  and  did  not  become  known 
to  the  public  at  large. 

It  was  Luzzatto's  chief  work  that  exercised  de- 
cisive influence  on  the  development  of  Hebrew 
literature.  La-Yesharim  Tehillah  ("  Glory  to  the 
Righteous"),  another  allegorical  drama,  which 
appeared  in  1743,  is  considered  a  model  of  its  kind 
until  this  day.  It  introduced  a  new  epoch,  the 
modern  epoch,  in  the  history  of  Hebrew  literature. 
The  master  stands  revealed  by  every  touch.  Every- 
thing betrays  his  skill — the  style,  at  once  elegant, 
significant,  and  precise,  recalling  the  pure  style  of 
the  Bible,  the  fresh  and  glowing  figures  of  speech, 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

the  original  poetic  inspiration,  and  the  thought, 
which  bears  the  imprint  of  a  profound  philosophy 
and  a  high  moral  sense,  and  is  free  from  all  trace 
of  mystical  exaggeration. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  dramatic  art,  the 
piece  is  not  of  the  highest  interest.  The  subject, 
purely  moral  and  didactic,  gives  no  opportunity 
for  a  serious  study  of  character,  and,  as  in  all 
allegorical  pieces,  the  dramatic  action  is  weak. 

The  theme  was  not  new.  Even  in  Hebrew  and 
before  Luzzatto,  it  had  been  treated  several  times. 
It  is  the  struggle  between  Justice  and  Injustice, 
between  Truth  and  Falsehood.  The  allegorical 
personages  who  take  part  in  the  action  are,  ar- 
rayed on  one  side,  Yosher  (Righteousness)  aided 
by  Sekel  (Reason)  and  Mishpat  (Justice),  and, 
on  the  other  side,  Sheker  (Falsehood)  and  her 
auxiliaries,  Tarmit  (Deceit),  Dimyon  (Imagina- 
tion), and  Taawah  (Passion).  The  two  hostile 
camps  strive  together  for  the  favor  of  the  beautiful 
maiden  Tehillah  (Glory),  the  daughter  of  Hamon 
(the  Crowd).  The  struggle  is  unequal.  Imagina- 
tion and  Passion  carry  the  day  in  the  face  of  Truth 
and  Righteousness.  Then  the  inevitable  deus  ex 
machina,  in  this  case  God  Himself,  intervenes,  and 
Justice  is  again  enthroned. 

24 


MOSES  HAYYIM  LUZZATTO 

This  simple  and  not  strikingly  original  frame  en- 
closes beautiful  descriptions  of  nature  and,  above 
all,  sublime  thoughts,  which  make  the  piece  one  of 
the  gems  of  Hebrew  poetry.  The  predominant 
idea  of  the  book  is  to  glorify  God  and  admire  the 
"  innumerable  wonders  of  the  Creator." 

"  All  who  seek  will  find  them,  in  every  living  being,  in  every 
plant,  in  every  lifeless  object,  in  all  things  on  earth  and  in  the 
sea,  in  whatsoever  the  human  eye  rests  upon.  Happy  he  who 
hath  found  knowledge  and  wisdom,  happy  he  if  their  speech 
hath  fallen  upon  an  attentive  ear !  "  (Act  II,  scene  I.) 

But  the  Creator  is  not  capricious.  Reason  and 
Truth  are  His  attributes,  and  they  appear  in  all 
His  acts.  Humanity  is  a  mob,  and  two  opposing 
forces  contend  for  the  mastery  over  it:  Truth 
with  Righteousness  on  one  side,  Falsehood  and 
her  ilk  on  the  other.  Each  of  these  two  forces 
seeks  to  rule  the  crowd  and  prevail  in  triumph. 

The  Reason  personified  by  the  poet  has  nothing 
in  common  with  the  positive  Reason  of  the  ration- 
alists, which  takes  the  world  to  be  directed  by 
mechanical  and  immutable  laws.  It  is  supreme 
Reason,  obeying  moral  laws  too  sublimated  for  em- 
powers of  appreciation.  How  could  it  be  other- 
wise? Are  we  not  the  continual  plaything  of  our 
senses,  which  are  incapable  of  grasping  absolute 

25 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

truths,  and  deceive  us  even  about  the  appearance  of 
things  ? 

"  Truly,  our  eyes  are  deluded,  for  eyes  of  flesh  they  are.  There- 
fore they  change  truth  into  falsehood,  darkness  they  make  light, 
and  light  darkness.  Lo,  a  small  chance,  a  mere  accident,  suffices 
to  distort  our  view  of  tangible  things;  how  much  more  do  we 
stray  from  the  truth  with  things  beyond  the  reach  of  our  senses? 
See  the  oars  in  the  water.  They  seem  crooked  and  twisted.  Yet 
we  know  them  to  be  straight 

"  Verily,  man's  heart  is  like  the  ocean  ceaselessly  agitated  by 
the  battling  winds.  As  the  waves  roll  forward  and  backward  in 
perpetual  motion,  so  our  hearts  are  stirred  by  never-ending  pain 
and  trouble,  and  as  our  emotions  sway  our  will,  so  our  senses 
suffer  change  within  us.  We  see  only  what  we  desire  to  see, 
hear  only  what  we  long  to  hear,  what  our  imagination  conjures 
up."  (Act  II,  scene  i.) 

This  philosophy  of  externalism  and  of  the  im- 
potence of  the  human  mind  threw  the  poet,  be- 
liever and  devotee  of  the  Kabbalah,  into  a  most 
dangerous  mysticism.  He  continued  to  write  for 
some  time:  an  imitation  of  the  Psalms;  a  treatise 
on  logic,  Ha-Higgayon,  not  without  value ;  another 
treatise  on  ethics,  Mesilat  Yesharim  ("The  Path 
of  the  Righteous  ")  ;  and  a  large  number  of  poetic 
pieces  and  Kabbalistic  compositions,  the  greater 
part  of  which  were  never  published;  and  this  enu- 
meration does  not  exhaust  the  tale  of  his  literary 


MOSES  HAYYIM  LUZZATTO 

achievements/  Then  his  powers  were  used  up, 
the  tension  of  his  mind  increased  to  the  last  degree ; 
he  lost  his  moral  equilibrium.  The  day  came  when 
he  strayed  so  far  afield  as  to  believe  himself  called 
to  play  the  role  of  the  Messiah.  The  Rabbis, 
alarmed  at  the  gloomy  prospect  of  a  repetition  of 
the  pseudo-Messianic  movements  which  time  and 
again  had  shaken  the  Jewish  world  to  its  founda- 
tions, launched  the  ban  against  him.  His  fate  was 
sealed  by  his  ingenious  imitation  of  the  Zohar, 
written  in  Aramaic,  of  which  only  fragments  have 
been  preserved.  Obliged  to  leave  Italy,  Luzzatto 
wandered  through  Germany,  and  took  up  his  abode 
at  Amsterdam.  He  enjoyed  the  gratification  of  be- 
ing welcomed  there  by  literary  men  among  his 
people  as  a  veritable  master.  At  Amsterdam  he 
wrote  his  last  works.  But  he  did  not  remain  there 
long.  He  went  to  seek  Divine  inspiration  at  Safed 
in  Palestine,  the  far-famed  centre  of  the  Kabbalah. 
There  he  died,  cut  off  by  the  plague  at  the  age  of 
forty. 

Such  was  the  sad  life  of  the  poet,  a  victim  of  the 
abnormal  surroundings  in  which  he  lived.  Under 
more  favorable  conditions,  he  might  have  achieved 

1  The  greater  part  of  Luzzatto's  works  have  never  been  pub- 
lished. 

8  27 


that  which  would  have  won  him  universal  recog- 
nition. His  main  distinction  is  that  he  released 
the  Hebrew  language  forever  from  the  forms  and 
ideas  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  connected  it  with 
the  circle  of  modern  literatures.  He  bequeathed 
to  posterity  a  model  of  classic  poetry,  which 
ushered  in  Hebrew  humanism,  the  return  to  the 
style  and  the  manner  of  the  Bible,  in  the  same  way 
as  the  general  humanistic  movement  led  the  Euro- 
pean mind  back  upon  its  own  steps  along  the  paths 
marked  out  by«  the  classic  languages.  No  sooner 
did  his  work  become  known  in  the  north  countries 
and  in  the  Orient  than  it  raised  up  imitators. 
Mendes  and  Wessely,  leaders  of  literary  revivals, 
the.  one  at  Amsterdam,  the  other  in  Germany,  are 
but  the  disciples  and  successors  of  the  Italian  poet. 


28 


CHAPTER  II 
IN  GERMANY 

THE  MEASSEFIM 

The  intellectual  emancipation  of  the  Jews  in 
Germany  anticipated  their  political  and  social 
emancipation.  That  is  a  truth  generally  acknowl- 
edged. Long  secluded  from  all  foreign  ideas,  con- 
fined within  religious  ajid  dogmatic  bounds,  Ger- 
man Judaism  was  a  sharer  in  the  physical  and 
social  misery  of  the  Judaism  of  Slavic  countries. 
The  philosophic  and  tolerant  ideas  in  vogue  at  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century  startled  it  somewhat 
out  of  its  torpor.  In  the  measure  in  which  those 
ideas  gained  a  foothold  in  the  communities,  con- 
ditions, at  least  in  the  larger  centres,  took  on  a 
comfortable  aspect,  with  more  or  less  assurance  of 
permanent  well-being.  The  first  contact  of  the 
ghetto  with  the  enlightened  circles  of  the  day  gave 
the  impetus  to  a  marked  movement  toward  an 
inner  emancipation.  Associations  of  Maskilim 
("intellectuals")  were  formed  at  Berlin,  Ham- 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

burg,  and  Breslau.  "  The  Seekers  of  the  Good 
and  the  Noble"  (Shohare  ha-Tob  weha-Tushiyah) 
should  be  mentioned  particularly.  They  were  com- 
posed of  educated  men  familiar  with  Occidental 
culture,  and  animated  by  the  desire  to  make  the 
light  of  that  culture  penetrate  to  the  heart  of  the 
provincial  communities.  These  "  intellectuals  " 
entered  the  lists  against  religious  fanaticism  and 
casuistic  methods,  seeking  to  replace  them  by 
liberal  ideas  and  scientific  research.  Two  schools, 
headed  respectively  by  the  philosopher  Mendels- 
sohn and  the  poet  Wessely,  had  their  origin  in  this 
movement — the  school  of  the  Biurists,  deriving 
their  name  from  the  Blur?  a  commentary  on  the 
Bible,  and  the  school  of  the  Meassefim,  from 
Meassef,  "  Collector."  The  former  defended 
Judaism  against  the  enemies  from  without,  and 
combated  the  prejudices  and  the  ignorance  of  the 
Jews  themselves.  The  Meassefim  took  as  their 
sphere  of  activity  the  reform  of  the  education  of 
the  young  and  the  revival  of  the  Hebrew  language. 
The  two  schools  agreed  that  to  elevate  the  moral 
and  social  status  of  the  Jews,  it  was  necessary  to 
remove  first  the  external  peculiarities  separating 

1 A  specimen  of  the  Blur  appeared   at  Amsterdam,   in   1778, 
under  the  title  'A Urn  le-Terufah. 

30 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

them  from  their  fellow-citizens.  A  new  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  into  literary  German,  undertaken 
by  Mendelssohn,  was  to  deal  the  death  blow  to  the 
Jewish-German  (judisch-deutsch]  jargon,  and  the 
Binr,  the  commentary  on  the  Bible  mentioned 
above,  produced  by  the  co-operation  of  a  galaxy 
of  scholars  and  men  of  culture,  was  expected  to 
sweep  aside  all  mystic  and  allegoric  interpretations 
of  the  Scriptures  and  introduce  the  rational  and 
scientific  method. 

The  results  achieved  by  the  Biurists  tended  be- 
yond a  doubt  toward  the  elevation  of  the  mass  of 
the  Jews.  One  of  these  results  was,  as  had  been 
hoped  for,  the  dislodgment  of  the  Jewish-German 
by  the  spread  of  the  pure  German.  The  influence 
wielded  by  the  Biurists,  so  far  from  stopping  with 
the  German  Jews,  extended  to  the  Jewish  commu- 
nities of  Eastern  Europe. 

In  1784-5,  two  Hebrew  writers,  Isaac  Euchel 
and  Mendel  Bresslau,  undertook  to  publish  a  ma- 
gazine, entitled  Ha-Meassef  ("The  Collector"), 
whence  the  name  Meassefim.  The  enterprise  was 
under  the  auspices  of  Mendelssohn  and  Wessely. 
A  double  aim  was  to  be  served.  The  periodical 
was  to  promote  the  spread  of  knowledge  and 

31 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

modern  ideas  in  the  Hebrew  language,  the  only 
language  available  for  the  Jews  of  the  ghetto;  and 
at  the  same  time  it  was  to  promote  the  purification 
of  Hebrew,  which  had  degenerated  in  the  Rab- 
binical schools.  Its  readers  were  to  be  familiarized 
with  the  social  and  aesthetic  demands  of  modern 
life,  and  induced  to  rid  themselves  of  ingrained 
peculiarities.  Besides  its  success  in  these  direc- 
tions, it  must  be  set  to  the  credit  of  Ha-Meassef, 
that  it  was  the  first  agency  to  gather  under  one 
banner  all  the  champions  of  the  Haskalah  2  in  the 
several  countries  of  Europe.  It  supplied  the  link 
connecting  them  with  one  another. 

From  the  literary  point  of  view  Ha-Meassef  is 
of  subordinate  interest.  Its  contributors  were  de- 
void of  taste.  They  offered  their  readers  mainly 
questionable  imitations  of  the  works  of  the  German 
romantic  school.  The  periodical  brought  no  new 
talent  truly  worthy  of  the  description  into  notice. 
Whatever  reputation  its  principal  writers  enjoyed 
had  been  won  before  the  appearance  of  Ha-Meas- 
sef. They  owed  their  fame  primarily  to  the  favor 
acquired  for  Hebrew  letters  through  the  efforts  of 


'Properly  speaking,  the  term  Haskalah  includes  the  notion  at 
once  of  humanism  and  humanitarianism. 

32 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

Luzzatto's  disciples.3  Of  the  poems  published  in 
Ha-Meassef  but  a  few  deserve  notice,  and  even 
they  are  nothing  more  than  mediocre  imitations  of 
didactic  pieces  in  the  style  of  the  day,  or  odes 
celebrating  the  splendor  of  contemporary  kings  and 
princes.  A  poem  by  Wessely  forms  a  rare  excep- 
tion. It  extols  the  residents  of  Basle,  who,  in 
1789,  welcomed  Jewish  refugees  from  Alsace. 
And  if  we  turn  from  its  poetry  to  its  historical 
contributions,  we  find  that  the  biographies,  as  of 
Abarbanel  and  Joseph  Delmedigo,  are  hardly  scien- 
tific; they  occupy  themselves  with  external  facts 
to  the  neglect  of  underlying  ideas.  On  the  whole, 
Ha-Meassef  was  an  engine  of  propaganda  and 
polemics  rather  than  a  literary  production,  though 
the  campaign  carried  on  in  its  pages  against  strait- 
laced  orthodoxy  and  the  Rabbis  did  not  reach  the 
degree  of  bitterness  which  was  to  characterize  later 
periods — moderation  that  was  due  to  its  most 
prominent  contributors.  Wessely  exhorted  the  ed- 
itors not  to  attack  religiousness  nor  ridicule  the 
Rabbis,  and  Mendelssohn  devoted  his  articles  to 

*  Since  the  appearance  of  La-Yesharim  Tehillah  by  Luzzatto, 
imitations  of  it  without  number  have  been  published,  and  for  the 
eighteenth  century  alone  allegorical  dramas  by  the  dozen  might 
be  enumerated. 

33 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

minor  points  of  Rabbinic  practice,  such  as  the  per- 
missibility of  vaccination  under  the  Jewish  law. 

The  French  Revolution  precipitated  events  in 
an  unexpected  way.  The  tone  of  Ha-Meassef 
changed.  It  held  that  knowledge  and  liberty  alone 
could  save  the  Jews.  More  aggressive  toward  the 
Rabbis  than  before,  it  attacked  fanaticism,  and 
gave  space  to  trite  poems,  glorifying  a  life,  for 
instance,  in  which  women  and  wine  played  the 
prominent  part  (1790).  Six  years  after  its  first 
issue,4  Ha-Meassef  ceased  to  appear,  not  without 
having  materially  advanced  the  intellectual  eman- 
cipation of  the  German  Jews  and  the  revival  of 
Hebrew  as  a  secular  language.  So  important  was 
this  first  co-operative  enterprise  in  Hebrew  letters, 
that  it  imposed  its  name  on  the  whole  of  the 
literary  movement  of  the  second  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  the  epoch  of  the  Meassefim. 

Two  poets  and  five  or  six  prose  writers  more  or 
less  worthy  of  the  name  of  author  dominated  the 
period. 

4  The  first  series  of  Ha-Meassef  ran  from  1784-1786  (Konigs- 
berg),  and  from  1788-1790  (Konigsberg  and  Berlin).  An  addi- 
tional volume  began  to  appear  in  1794,  at  Berlin  and  Breslau, 
under  the  editorship  of  Lowe  and  Wolfsohn,  and  was  completed 
in  1797.  The  second  series  ran  from  1809  to  1811  at  Berlin, 
Altona,  and  Dessau,  under  Shalom  Hacohen.  [Trl.] 

34 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

Naphtali  Hartwig  Wessely  (born  at  Hamburg 
in  1725;  died  there  in  1805)  is  considered  the 
prince  of  the  poets  of  the  time.  Belonging  to  a 
rather  intelligent  family  in  easy  circumstances,  he 
received  a  modern  education.  Though  his  mind 
was  open  to  all  the  new  influences,  he  nevertheless 
remained  a  loyal  adherent  of  his  faith,  and  occu- 
pied strictly  religious  ground  until  the  end.  He 
devoted  himself  with  success  to  the  cultivation  of 
poetry,  and  completed  the  work  of  reform  begun 
by  the  Italian  Luzzatto,  to  whom,  however,  he 
was  inferior  in  depth  and  originality. 

Wessely's  poetic  masterpiece  was  Shire  Tiferet 
("Songs  of  Glory")',  or  the  Epic  of  Moses 
(Berlin,  1789),  in  five  volumes.  This  poem  of 
the  Exodus  is  on  the  model  of  the  pseudo-classic 
productions  of  the  Germany  of  his  day;  the  influ- 
ence of  Klopstock's  Messias,  for  instance,  is 
striking. 

Depth  of  thought,  feeling  for  art,  and  original 
poetic  imagination  are  lacking  in  Shire  Tiferet. 
Practically  it  is  nothing  more  than  an  oratorical 
paraphrase  of  the  Biblical  recital.  The  shortcom- 
ings of  his  main  work  are  characteristic  of  all 
the  poetry  by  Wessely.  On  the  other  hand,  his 
oratorical  manner  is  unusually  attractive,  and  his 

35 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Hebrew  is  elegant  and  chaste.  The  somewhat 
labored  precision  of  his  style,  taken  together  with 
the  absence  of  the  poetic  temperament,  makes  of 
him  the  Malherbe  of  modern  Hebrew  poetry.  He 
enjoyed  the  love  and  admiration  of  his  contem- 
poraries to  an  extraordinary  degree,  and  his  chief 
poem  underwent  a  large  number  of  editions,  be- 
coming in  course  of  time  a  popular  book,  and  re- 
garded with  kindly  favor  even  by  the,  most  ortho- 
dox— testimony  at  once  to  the  poet's  personal  in- 
fluence upon  his  co-religionists  and  the  growing 
importance  of  the  Hebrew  language. 

Wessely  wrote  also  several  important  works  on 
questions  in  Hebrew  grammar  and  philology.  The 
chief  of  them  is  Lebanon,  two  parts  of  which  ap- 
peared, each  separately,  under  the  title  Gan  Na'ul 
("The  Locked  Garden  ",  Berlin,  1765)  ;  the  other 
parts  never  appeared  in  print.  They  bear  witness 
to  their  author's  solid  scientific  attainments,  and  it 
is  regrettable  that  their  value  is  obscured  by  his 
style,  diffuse  to  the  point  of  prolixity.  Besides, 
Wessely  contributed  to  the  German  translation  of 
the  Bible,  and  to  the  commentary  on  the  Bible, 
both,  as  mentioned  before,  works  presided  over  by 
Mendelssohn,  to  whom  he  was  attached  by  the  tie 
of  admiring  friendship. 

36 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

Wessely's  chief  distinction,  however,  was  his 
firm  character  and  his  love  of  truth.  His  high 
ethical  qualities  were  revealed  notably  in  his  pam- 
phlet Dibre  Shalom  wa-Emet  ("Words  of  Peace 
and  Truth,"  Berlin,  1781 ),  elicited  by  the  edict  of 
Emperor  Joseph  II  ordering  a  reform  of  Jewish 
education  and  the  establishment  of  modern  schools 
for  Jews.  Though  well  on  in  years,  he  yet  did  not 
shrink  from  the  risk  of  incurring  the  anger  of  the 
fanatics.  He  openly  declared  himself  in  favor  of 
pedagogic  innovations.  With  sage-like  modesty 
and  mildness,  the  poet  stated  the  pressing  need  for 
adopting  new  educational  methods,  and  showed 
them  to  be  by  no  means  in  opposition  to  the  Mosaic 
and  Rabbinic  conception  of  the  Jewish  faith.  In 
the  name  of  Torat  ha-Adam,  the  law  for  man  as 
such,  he  set  forth  urgent  reforms  which  would 
raise  the  prestige  of  the  Law  as  well  as  of  the  Jews. 
He  hoped  for  civil  liberty,  the  liberty  the  Jews 
were  enjoying  in  England  and  in  the  Netherlands. 
However,  this  courageous  course  gained  for  him 
the  ban  of  the  fanatics,  the  effect  of  which  was 
mitigated  by  the  intervention  of  the  Italian  Rabbis 
in  favor  of  Wessely.  On  the  other  hand,  it  made 
him  the  most  prominent  member  of  the  Meassefim 
circle;  he  was  regarded  as  the  master  of  the 
Maskilim. 

37 


Among  the  most  distinguished  of  the  contrib- 
utors to  Ha-Meassef  is  the  second  writer  acclaimed 
poet  by  popular  consent.  David  Franco  Mendes 
(1713-1792)  was  born  at  Amsterdam,  of  a  family 
escaped  from  the  Inquisition.  Like  most  Jews  of 
Spanish  origin,  his  family  clung  to  the  Spanish 
language.  He  was  the  friend  and  disciple,  and 
likewise  the  imitator,  of  Moses  Hayyim  Luzzatto. 
What  was  true  of  Eastern  Europe,  that  the  He- 
brew language  prevailed  in  the  ghetto,  and  had  to 
be  resorted  to  by  all  who  would  reach  the  Jewish 
masses,  did  not  apply  to  the  countries  of  the  Ro- 
mance languages.  Here  Hebrew  had  little  by  little 
been  supplanted  by  the  vernacular.  Mendes,  who 
paid  veritable  worship  to  Hebrew  literature,  was 
distressed  to  see  the  object  of  his  devotion  scorned 
by  his  co-religionists  and  the  productions  of  the 
classic  age  of  France  preferred  to  it.  In  the  pre- 
face to  his  tragedy,  "  Athaliah's  Recompense  " 
( Gemul  Athaliah,  Amsterdam,  1770),  he  set  him- 
self the  task  of  demonstrating  the  superiority  of 
the  sacred  language  to  the  profane  languages.  Yet 
this  very  tragedy,  in  spite  of  its  author's  protesta- 
tions, is  nothing  more  than  a  rlfacimento  of 
Racine's  drama,  and  rather  infelicitous  at  that, 
though  it  must  be  admitted  that  Mendes'  style  is 

38 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

of  classic  purity,  and  some  of  his  scenes  are  in  a 
measure  characterized  by  vivacity  of  action.  His 
other  drama,  "  Judith  ",  also  published  at  Amster- 
dam, has  no  greater  merit  than  "  Athaliah's  Re- 
compense." Besides  these  dramas,  Mendes  wrote 
several  biographical  sketches  of  the  learned  men  of 
the  Middle  Ages  for  Ha-Meassef. 

It  were  far  from  the  truth  to  say  that  Mendes 
succeeded  in  rivalling  the  French  and  Italian 
authors  whom  he  set  up  as  models  for  himself. 
Nevertheless  he  was  endorsed  and  admired  by  the 
literary  men  of  his  time  as  the  heir  of  Luzzatto. 

An  enumeration  of  all  the  writers  and  all  the 
scholars  who,  directly  or  indirectly,  contributed  to 
the  work  of  Ha-Meassef,  would  be  wearisome. 
Only  those  who  are  distinguished  by  some  degree 
of  originality  will  be  set  down  by  name. 

Rabbi  Solomon  Pappenheim  (1776-1814),  of 
Breslau,  was  the  author  of  a  sentimental  elegy, 
Arba  Kosot  ("  The  Four  Cups",  Berlin,  1790). 
The  poem,  inspired  by  Young's  "Night  Thoughts," 
is  remarkable  for  its  personal  note.  In  his  plaints 
recalling  Job's,  this  Hebrew  Werther  mourns  the 
loss,  not  of  his  mistress — that  would  not  have  been 
in  consonance  with  the  spirit  of  the  ghetto — but 

39 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

of  his  wife  and  his  three  children.  The  elegy  came 
near  being  a  popular  poem.  Its  vapid  sentimen- 
tality and  its  affected  and  exaggerated  style  were 
to  exercise  a  baneful  influence  upon  the  following 
generations.  It  is  the  tribute  paid  by  Hebrew 
literature  to  the  diseased  spirit  of  the  age.  Pap- 
penheim  wrote,  besides,  on  Hebrew  philology.  His 
work,  Yeri'ot  Shelomoh  ("  The  Curtains  of  Solo- 
mon ") ,  is  an  important  contribution  to  the  subject. 

Shalom  Hacohen,  the  editor  of  a  second  series 
of  Ha-Meassef,  published  in  1809-1811  (Berlin, 
Altona,  and  Dessau),  deserves  mention.  He  won 
considerable  fame  by  his  poems  and  articles,  which 
appeared  in  the  second  series  of  Ha-Meassef  and 
in  Bikkure  ha-Ittim  ("  The  First  Fruits  of  the 
Times"),  and  especially  through  his  historical 
drama,  "  Amal  and  Tirzah  "  (Rodelheim,  1812). 
The  last,  a  na'ively  conceived  piece  of  work,  is  well 
fitted  into  its  Biblical  frame.  Hacohen  is  one  of  the 
intermediaries  between  the  German  Meassefim  and 
their  successors  in  Poland.5 

Mendelssohn,  the  master  admired  and  respected 

B  Another  writer  of  the  epoch,  Hartwig  Derenburg,  whose  son 
and  grandson  have  brilliantly  carried  on,  in  France,  the  literary 
and  scientific  traditions  of  the  family,  was  the  author  of  a  widely- 
read  allegorical  drama,  Yoshebe  Tebel  ("The  Inhabitants  of  the 
World",  Offenbach,  1789). 

40 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

by  all,  contributed,  as  was  mentioned  before,  only 
minor  controversial  articles  to  Ha-Meassef.  His 
preface  to  the  Blur  and  his  commentary  on  Mai- 
monides'  treatise  on  logic  are  in  good  style.  His 
philosophical  works,  "Jerusalem"  and  "Phaedon," 
translated  into  Hebrew  by  his  disciples,  were 
largely  instrumental  in  giving  prevalence  to  the 
idea  that  the  Jewish  people  is  a  religious  com- 
munity rather  than  a  nation.  This  circumstance 
explains  the  banishment  of  Hebrew  from  the  syna- 
gogue by  his  less  religious  followers,  such  as  David 
Friedlander,  and  the  attacks  of  Herz  Homberg  on 
traditional  Judaism  in,  his  pamphlet  "  To  the 
Shepherds  of  Israel  "  (El  Roe  Yisrael). 

The  chief  editor  of  Ha-Meassef,  Isaac  Euchel 
(1756-1804),  became  known  for  his  polemic  arti- 
cles against  the  superstitions  and  obscurantism  of 
the  fanatics  of  the  ghetto.  Euchel  wrote  also  a 
biographical  sketch  of  Mendelssohn,  which  was 
published  at  Vienna  in  1814. 

There  were  also  scientific  writers  among  the 
Meassefim.  Baruch  Lindau  wrote  a  treatise  on  the 
natural  sciences,  Reshit  Limmudim  ("  The  Ele- 
ments of  the  Sciences  ",  Briinn,  1788),  and  Morde- 
cai  Gumpel  Levisohn,  the  learned  professor  at  the 
University  of  Upsala,  was  the  author  of  a  series 

41 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

of  scientific  essays  in  Ha-Meassef,  which  contrib- 
uted greatly  to  its  success. 

Up  to  the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  Poland  had 
supplied  the  Jewish  people  with  Rabbis  and  Tal- 
mudists,  and  when  the  German  Jews  became  im- 
bued with  the  new  spirit,  their  Polish  brethren  did 
not  lag  behind.  Polish  authors  are  to  be  found 
among  the  Meassefim,  and  several  of  them  deserve 
special  notice. 

Kant's  brilliant  disciple,  the  profound  thinker 
Solomon  Maimon,  published  only  his  exegetical 
works  and  his  ingenious  commentary  on  Maimo- 
nides  in  Hebrew.  Another  Polish  writer,  Solomon 
Dubno  (1735-1813),  one  of  the  first  to  co-operate 
with  Mendelssohn  in  his  Biur,  was  a  remarkable 
grammarian  and  stylist.  Among  other  things  he 
wrote  an  allegorical  drama  and  a  number  of  poetic 
satires.  Of  the  latter,  the  "  Hymn  to  Hypocrisy  ", 
published  in  Bikkure  To'elet,  is  a  finished  pro- 
duction. 

Judah  Ben-Zeeb  (1764-1811)  published  in 
Berlin  a  Manual  of  the  Hebrew  Language  ( Tal- 
mud Leshon  'Ibri),  planned  on  modern  lines,  a 
work  contributing  greatly  toward  spreading  a 
knowledge  of  philology  and  rhetoric  among  the 
Jews.  His  Hebrew-German  Dictionary  and  his 

42 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

Hebrew  version  of  Ben  Sira  are  well  known  to 
Hebraists. 

Isaac  Satanow  (1732-1804),  a  Pole  residing  at 
Berlin,  was  a  curious  personage,  interesting  alike 
for  the  variety  of  his  productions  and  the  oddity 
of  his  mental  make-up.  He  possessed  a  surprising 
capacity  for  assimilation.  It  was  this  that  enabled 
him  to  excel,  whether  he  imitated  the  style  of  the 
Bible  or  the  style  of  mediaeval  authors.  Hebrew 
and  Aramaic  he  handled  with  the  same  ingenious 
skill.  All  his  works  he  attributed  to  some  ancient 
author.  His  collection  of  Proverbs,  bearing  the 
name  of  the  Psalmist  Asaph  (Mishle  Asaph,  Ber- 
lin, 1789  and  1792,  in  three  books),  would  cut  a 
respectable  figure  in  any  literature. 

A  few  specimens  of  his  Mishle,  or  maxims, 
follow : 

"Truth  springs  from  research,  justice  from  intelligence.  The 
beginning  of  research  is  curiosity,  its  essence  is  discernment,  and 
its  goal  truth  and  justice"  (7:  5,6). 

"  On  the  day  of  thy  birth  thou  didst  weep,  and  those  about  thee 
were  glad.  On  the  day  of  thy  death  thou  wilt  laugh,  and  those 
about  thee  will  sigh.  Know  then,  thou  wilt  one  day  be  born 
anew  to  rejoice  in  God,  and  matter e  will  no  longer  hinder  thee  " 
(15:5,6)- 

8  A  play  upon  words :  Geshem  in  Hebrew  means  both  "  mat- 
ter "  and  "  rain." 

4  43 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

"Rule  thy  spirit  lest  others  rule  thy  body"   (24:2). 

"  Pincers  are  made  by  means  of  pincers ;  work  is  helped  on  by 
work,  and  science  by  science"  (34:23). 

"Think  not  what  is  sweet  to  thy  palate  is  sweet  to  thy  neigh- 
bor's palate.  Not  so;  for  many  are  the  beautiful  wives  that  are 
hated  by  their  husbands,  and  many  the  ill-featured  wives  that 
are  beloved  "  (43:6,7). 

"  Every  living  being  leaves  off  reproducing  itself  in  its  old 
age ;  but  falsehood  plays  the  harlot  even  in  her  decrepitude.  The 
older  she  grows,  the  deeper  she  strikes  root  in  the  ground,  the 
more  numerous  becomes  her  lying  progeny,  the  further  does  it 
spread  abroad.  Her  lovers  multiply,  and  those  who  pay  respect 
to  the  old  adhere  to  her,  that  her  name  be  not  wiped  from  the 
face  of  the  earth"  (42:29-31). 

Satanow  pleaded  for  the  language  of  the  Mish- 
nah  as  forming  part  of  the  Hebrew  linguistic  stock, 
but  the  moment  was  not  propitious  to  the  reform 
of  the  prevailing  literary  style  suggested  by  him. 

On  the  whole,  as  was  intimated  before,  the 
literary  movement  called  forth  by  the  Meassefim 
produced  nothing,  or  almost  nothing,  of  permanent 
value.  The  writers  of  this  school  acted  the  part 
of  pioneers  and  heralds.  Being  primarily  icono- 
clasts and  reformers,  they  disappeared,  with  but 
few  exceptions,  as  soon  as  their  task  was  completed 
and  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews  was  an  accom- 
plished fact  in  Western  Europe.  They  survived 
long  enough,  however,  to  see  the  movement  with 

44 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

which  they  were  identified  sweep  away,  along  with 
the  traditions  of  the  past,  also  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage, the  only  relic  dear  to  them,  the  only  Jewish 
thing  capable  of  awakening  a  responsive  thrill  in 
their  hearts. 

Passionate  humanists,  and  not  very  clear-sighted, 
they  permitted  themselves  to  be  dazzled  by  mod- 
ernity and  promises  of  light  and  liberty,  and 
forswore  the  ideal  of  the  re-nationalization  of 
Israel,  so  placing  themselves  outside  the  fellowship 
bond  that  united,  by  a  common  hope,  the  great 
masses  of  the  Jews  who  were  still  attached  to  their 
faith  and  to  their  peojile. 

Writers  of  no  consequence  in  many  cases,  and  of 
no  originality  whatsoever,  failing  to  recognize  the 
grandeur  of  Israel's  past,  the  Meassefim  despised 
their  Jewish  surroundings  too  heartily  to  seek  in- 
spiration in  them.  For  the  most  part  they  were 
shallow  imitators,  second-rate  translators  of  Schil- 
ler and  Racine.  The  language  of  the  Jewish  soul 
they  could  not  speak,  and  they  could  not  formulate 
a  new  ideal  to  take  the  place  of  the  tottering  tra- 
ditions of  the  past  and  the  faltering  hope  of  a  Mes- 
sianic time.  An  entire  generation  was  to  pass 
before  historical  Judaism  came  into  its  own  again, 
through  the  creation  of  a  pure  "  Science  of  Juda- 

45 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

ism  "  and  the  conception  of  the  mission  of  the  Jew- 
ish people. 

Nevertheless  the  movement  called  into  being  by 
the  Meassefim  caused  considerable  stir.  For  the 
first  time  the  Rabbinic  tradition,  petrified  by  age 
and  ignorance,  was  assailed,  in  the  sacred  language 
at  that,  and  the  attack  was  launched  in  the  name  of 
science  and  life.  For  the  first  time  the  Haskalah, 
Hebrew  humanism,  declared  war  on  whatever  in 
the  past  trammelled  the  modern  evolution  of  Juda- 
ism. In  vain  the  Meassefim,  save  the  exceptional 
few,  refrained  scrupulously  from  violent  declama- 
tion against  primary  dogmatic  principles.  In 
vain  their  master  Mendelssohn,  contravening  good 
sense  and  historical  Judaism,  went  so  far  as  to 
proclaim  these  principles  sacrosanct.  The  secu- 
larization of  Jewish  literature  and  Jewish  life  had 
made  a  breach  in  the  ghetto  wall.  Thereafter 
nothing  could  oppose  the  march  of  new  ideas.  The 
Rabbis  of  the  period  saw  it  clearly ;  hence  the  stub- 
bornness of  their  opposition. 

Beginning  with  this  time  a  new  class  appeared 
among  the  Jews  of  the  ghetto,  the  class  of  the 
Maskilim,  or  men  of  lay  learning  and  letters,  a 
class  with  which  the  Rabbis  have  since  had  to 
reckon,  with  which,  indeed,  they  have  had  to  share 
their  authority  over  the  people. 

46 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

So  far  as  the  Hebrew  language  is  concerned,  the 
Meassefim  succeeded  in  purifying  it  and  restoring 
it  to  its  Biblical  form.  Wessely  and  Mendes  oblit- 
erated the  last  vestiges  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
many  of  the  litterateurs  of  the  period  bequeathed 
models  of  the  classic  style  to  posterity.  But  the 
return  to  the  manner  of  the  Bible  had  its  disad- 
vantages. It  went  to  extremes,  and  led  to  the  crea- 
tion of  a  pompous,  affected  style,  the  Melizah, 
which  has  left  indelible  traces  in  neo-Hebrew  litera- 
ture. In  the  effort  to  guard  the  Biblical  style 
against  the  Rabbinisms  which  had  impaired  the 
elegance  of  the  Hebrew  language,  the  purists  had 
gone  beyond  the  bounds  of  moderation.  To  ex- 
press the  most  prosaic  thought,  the  simplest  ideas, 
they  drew  upon  the  metaphors  and  the  elevated 
diction  of  the  Bible.  This  rage  for  academic  cor- 
rectness is  responsible  for  the  reputation,  not 
merited  by  Hebrew  literature,  that  it  lacks  origi- 
nality, that  it  is  no  more  than  a  jeu  d'esprit,  a 
jumble  of  quibbling  conceits. 

Italian  men  of  letters  also  took  part  in  the  liter- 
ary movement  of  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Two  of  them  are  worthy  of  mention  by  name.  The 
first  is  the  poet  Ephraim  Luzzatto  (1727-1792), 

47 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

whose  love  sonnets,  written  in  a  sprightly  style, 
sound  a  lyric  note.  The  other  is  Samuel  Roma- 
nelli,  the  author  of  a  melodrama,  much  admired 
by  his  contemporaries,  and  of  a  "  Journey  to 
Arabia." 

In  France,  also,  especially  in  Alsace,  there  were 
collaborators  of  the  German  Meassefim,  the  best 
known  among  them  Ensheim.  Besides,  France  har- 
bored the  only  poet  of  the  period  who  can  lay  claim 
to  originality,  but  he  was  not  of  the  school  of  the 
Meassefim.  Elie  Half  an  Halevy  (1760-1822), 
of  Paris,  the  grandfather  of  Ludovic  Halevy,  by 
far  surpasses  the  other  poets  of  his  day  in  poetic 
temperament  and  fertility  of  imagination.  Un- 
luckily, we  do  not  possess  all  the  poems  written  by 
Halevy,  who,  moreover,  was  not  a  very  prolific 
author.  In  what  has  come  down  to  us  his  talent 
is  abundantly  proved  by  the  charm  of  his  individual 
style  and  the  wealth  of  his  images.  The  reader 
feels  that  the  breath  of  the  Revolution  has  blown 
through  his  pages.  His  "  Hymn  to  Peace  "  (Shir 
ha-Shalom),  published  at  Paris  in  1804,  is  the 
apotheosis  of  Napoleon,  whom  the  poet  hails  as 
"  liberty  rescued  "  and  "  beautiful  France  ",  the 
home  of  liberty.  This  unique  poem  is  character- 

48 


THE  MEASSEFIM 

ized  by  unbounded  love  for  France  and  the  French, 
the  beautiful  country,  the  free,  high-mettled  peo- 
ple, bearing  love  of  country  in  its  heart  and  in  its 
hand  the  avenging  sword,  and  cherishing  hatred 
against  "  tyranny  on  the  throne,  which  had  changed 
a  terrestrial  Paradise  into  a  charnel  house."  The 
poet  extols  the  dictator  not  only  because  he  is  a 
"  friend  of  victory  ",  but  because  he  is  at  the  same 
time  and  still  more  a  "  friend  of  science."  He  sa- 
lutes the  victorious  armies.  Although  they  bring 
destruction  and  misery  in  their  wake,  they  bear 
before  them  the  standard  of  science,  civilization, 
and  progress. 

The  cry  of  liberty  wakened  a  loud  echo  in  the 
ghettos  of  even  the  most  backward  countries.  He- 
brew literature  contains  a  number  of  curious  me- 
mentos, tokens  of  the  ardent  hopes  which  the 
French  Revolution  and  the  Napoleonic  conquests 
evoked  in  the  breast  of  the  Jews,  whose  character 
has  little  enough  affinity  with  the  rule  of  despotism. 
In  numerous  Hebrew  hymns  and  songs T  they  wel- 
comed the  armies  of  Napoleon  as  of  the  savior 
Messiah.  Before  the  first  flush  of  joy  died  away, 

7 To  name  but  a  few  among  the  many:  an  ode  by  the 
celebrated  Rabbi  Jacob  Me'ir  in  Alsace,  an  ancestor  of  the 
family  of  the  Grand-Rabbin  Zadoc  Kahn ;  another  ode  composed 

49 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

the  reaction  set  in,  and  their  hopes  were  blighted. 
The  Jews  relapsed  into  their  olden  social  misery. 
Nevertheless,  the  clash  between  received  notions 
and  the  new  conceptions  had  contributed  not  a  little 
to  produce  a  ferment  of  ideas  and  create  new  ten- 
dencies in  the  ghetto,  at  last  aroused  from  its  mil- 
lennial slumber. 

at  Vienna  by  the  Polish  grammarian  Ben-Zeeb;  and  the  hymns 
sung  in  the  synagogue  at  Frankfort  (1807),  at  Hamburg  (1811), 
etc.  The  Revolutionary  Code  published  at  Amsterdam  in  1795 
is  also  worthy  of  mention. 


60 


CHAPTER  III 
IN  POLAND  AND  AUSTRIA 

THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

The  Polish  scholars  domiciled  in  Germany  en- 
tered, as  we  have  seen,  into  the  work  of  the  Meas- 
sefim.  Presently  it  will  appear  that  the  movement 
itself  was  transferred  to  Poland,  where  it  produced 
a  much  more  lasting  effect  than  elsewhere. 

In  the  West  of  Europe  Hebrew  was  destined  to 
vanish  little  by  little,  and  make  room  for  the 
languages  of  the  various  countries.  In  the  Slavic 
East,  on  the  other  hand,  the  neo-Hebrew  gained 
and  spread  until  it  was  the  predominating  language 
used  by  writers.  By  and  by  a  profane  literature 
grew  up  in  it,  which  extends  to  our  day  without  a 
break. 

From  the  sixteenth  century  on,  the  Jewry  of 
Poland,  isolated  in  destiny  and  in  political  consti- 
tution, comprised  the  greater  part  of  the  Jewish 
people.  The  agglomerations  of  Jews  in  Poland, 
originating  in  many  different  countries,  and  fused 

51 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

into  one  mass,  enjoyed  a  large  measure  of  au- 
tonomy. Their  fortunes  were  governed  and  their 
life  regulated  by  a  political  and  religious  organi- 
zation administered  by  the  Rabbis  and  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Kahal,  the  "  community."  This 
organization  formed  a  sort  of  theocratic  state 
known  as  "  The  Synod  of  the  Four  Countries  " 
(Poland,  Little  Poland,  Little  Russia,  and,  later, 
Lithuania,  with  its  autonomous  synod).  Consti- 
tuting almost  the  whole  of  the  Third  Estate  of  a 
country  three  times  the  size  of  France,  the  Jews 
were  not  only  merchants,  but  also,  and  more  par- 
ticularly, artisans,  workingmen,  and  even  farmers. 
They  were  a  people  apart,  distinct  from  the  others. 
The  restricted  ghettos  and  small  communities  of 
the  Occident  widened  out,  in  Poland,  into  prov- 
inces with  cities  and  towns  peopled  by  Jews.  The 
Thirty  Years'  War,  which  had  cast  a  large  number 
of  German  Jews  into  Poland,  produced  the  effect 
of  giving  a  definite  constitution  to  this  social  organ- 
ism. The  new-comers  quickly  attained  to  control- 
ling influence  in  the  Jewish  communities,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  foisting  their  German  idiom  upon  the 
older  settlers.  One  of  their  distinguishing  traits 
was  that  they  pushed  the  study  of  the  Law  to  the 
utmost.  The  Talmud  schools  in  Poland  and  the 

52 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

Polish  Rabbis  soon  acquired  a  reputation  unas- 
sailed  in  the  whole  of  the  Diaspora.  Despised  and 
maltreated  by  the  Polish  magnates,  condemned,  by 
reason  of  a  never-ceasing  stream  of  immigration 
and  the  meagre  resources  of  the  country,  to  a  bitter 
struggle  for  existence,  the  Jews  of  Poland  centred 
all  their  ambition  in  the  study  of  the  Law,  and  con- 
soled themselves  with  the  Messianic  hope.  Empty 
casuistry  and  dry  dogmatism  sufficed  for  the  intel- 
lectual needs  of  the  most  enlightened.  A  piety 
without  limit,  the  rigorous  and  minute  observance 
of  Rabbinical  prescriptions,  and  a  cult  com- 
pounded of  traditional  and  superstitious  practices 
accumulated  during  many- centuries,  filled  the  void 
left  in  their  minds  by  the  wretched  life  of  the 
masses.  To  satisfy  the  cravings  of  the  heart,  they 
had  the  homilies  of  the  Maggidim  ("preachers  "), 
a  sort  of  popular  instruction  based  on  sacred  texts, 
tricked  out  with  Talmudic  narratives,  mystic  allu- 
sions, and  a  variety  of  superstitions. 

By  the  dreadful  insurrection  of  the  Cossacks  in 
the  Ukraine,  half  a  million  of  Jews  lost  their  lives. 
The  terror  that  followed  the  uprising  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  first  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century  threw  the  Jewish  population 
of  the  southern  provinces  into  sad  confusion.  At 

53 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

that  moment  the  Hasidim l  with  their  Oriental 
fatalism,  and  their  worship  of  the  Zaddik 
("Saint"),  whom  they  revered  as  a  wonder- 
worker, appeared  upon  the  scene  and  won  the  Jews 
of  a  large  part  of  Poland  to  their  standard.  Then 
there  ensued  a  period  of  moral  and  intellectual 
degradation,  which  coincided  precisely  with  the 
epoch  in  which  the  civilizing  influence  of  the  Meas- 
sefim  was  uppermost  in  Germany. 

The  reforms  of  Emperor  Joseph  II  planned  for 
the  Jews  in  the  part  of  Poland  annexed  by  Austria, 
especially  the  extension  of  compulsory  military 
service  to  them,  were  looked  upon  by  the  ignorant 
masses  as  a  dire  misfortune.  They  rebelled  against 
every  change,  and  placed  no  belief  in  the  promises 
made  by  the  authorities  to  better  their  condition. 
They  were  terrorized  by  the  severity  of  the  meas- 
ures taken  against  them,  and,  impotent  to  carry  on 
a  struggle  against  authority,  they  threw  themselves 
into  the  arms  of  Hasidism,  which  preached  the 
merging  of  self  in  a  mystic  solidarity.  This  meant 


1  Literally,  the  "  pious."  A  sect  founded  in  Wolhynia  in  the 
second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  adherents  of  which, 
though  they  remained  faithful  to  the  Rabbinic  law,  placed  piety, 
mystic  exaltation,  and  a  worship  of  holy  men  in  opposition  to  the 
study  of  the  Talmud  and  the  dogmatism  of  the  Rabbis. 

54 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

the  cessation  of  all  growth,  social  as  well  as  reli- 
gious. Superstition  established  itself  as  sovereign 
mistress,  and  the  end  was  the  utter  degeneration 
of  the  Austrian-Polish  section  of  Jews. 

In  order  to  guard  against  the  danger  with  which 
the  spread  of  the  new  sect  was  fraught,  and  en- 
lighten at  least  the  more  intelligent  of  the  people, 
the  intellectual  Jews  of  Poland  took  up  the  work 
of  the  Meassefim,  and  constituted  themselves  the 
champions  of  the  Haskalah,  the  liberal  movement. 
They  became  thus  the  lieutenants  of  the  Austrian 
government.  By  and  by  their  activity  assumed 
importance,  and  in  time  modern  schools  were  estab- 
lished and  literary  circles  were  formed  in  the 
greater  part  of  the  villages  of  Galicia. 

Even  into  Russian  Poland  the  campaign  against 
obscurantism  was  carried,  by  men  like  Tobias 
Feder  and  David  Samoscz ;  the  former  the  author 
of  an  incisive  pamphlet  against  Hasidism,  as  well 
as  numerous  philological  and  poetical  publications; 
the  latter  a  prolific  writer,  the  author  of  a  collec- 
tion of  poems  entitled  Resise  ha-Melizah  ("  Drops 
of  Poetry",  1798). 

The  movement  was  aided  and  abetted  by  rich 
and  influential  Jews.  Joseph  Perl,  the  founder  of 
a  modern  school  and  several  other  educational  in- 

55 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

stitutions,  is  a  typical  representative  of  these  friends 
and  patrons  of  progress.2 

Ha-Meassef  was  succeeded  by  a  progeny  of  pe- 
riodical literature,  scientific  and  literary.  After 
the  Bikkure  ha-Ittim  ("The  First  Fruits  of  the 
Times"),  edited  by  Shalom  Hacohen,  Vienna, 
1820-1831,  came  the  Kerem  Hemed  ("The  De- 
licious Vineyard  "),  edited  by  Goldenberg,  at  Tar- 
nopol,  1833-1842;  the  Ozar  Nehmad  ("The 
Delightful  Treasure"),  edited  by  Blumenfeld; 
He-Haluz  ("  The  Pioneer  "),  founded  in  1853  by 
Erter,  together  with  Schorr,  the  witty  writer  and 
bold  reformer;  Kokebe  Yizhak  ("  The  Stars  of 
Isaac"),  edited  by  I.  Stern,  at  Vienna,  1850-1863; 
Bikkure  ha-Shanah  ("  The  First  Fruits  of  the 
Year",  1844);  Peri  To'elet  ("Successful  La- 
bor", 1821-1825);  "Jerusalem",  1845;  "Zion", 
1842;  Ha-Zefirah  ("The  Morningstar  " ) ,  1824; 
Yeshurun.  1847,  etc-  These  collections  of  essays 

2  Perl  was  the  author  of  a  parody  on  Hasidism,  published 
anonymously  under  the  title  Megalle  Temirin  ("  The  Revealer 
of  Mysteries").  A  monograph  upon  parodies,  a  literary  form 
widely  cultivated  in  Hebrew,  which  was  long  a  desideratum  has 
recently  been  written  by  Dr.  Israel  Davidson  ("Parody  in  Jew- 
ish Literature",  New  York,  Columbia  University  Press,  1908). 
The  Hebrew  parody  is  distinguished  particularly  for  its  adapta- 
tion of  the  Talmudic  language  to  modern  customs  and  questions. 

56 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

are  of  a  much  more  serious  character  than  ever  Ha- 
Meassef  attained  to.  As  a  rule  they  display  more 
originality  and  more  scientific  depth. 

To  attract  the  intelligent  among  the  Polish  Jews, 
permeated  as  they  were  with  deep  knowledge  of 
Rabbinic  literature,  more  was  needed  than  witty 
sallies  and  childish  conceits  in  an  affected  style. 
The  appeal  had  to  be  made  to  their  reason,  to 
their  convictions,  their  constant  longing  for  intel- 
lectual occupation.  Their  minds  could  be  turned 
away  from  a  most  absurd  mysticism  only  by  setting 
a  new  ideal  before  them,  calculated  to  engage  feel- 
ings and  attract  hearts  yearning  for  consolation, 
and  left  unsatisfied  by  the  pursuit  of  the  Law,  the 
nourishment  given  to  all  who  thought  and  studied 
in  the  ghetto. 

Two  men,  the  most  eminent  of  the  Jewish  hu- 
manists in  Austrian  Poland,  succeeded  in  meeting 
the  spiritual  needs  of  their  compatriots.  The 
Rabbi  Solomon  Jehudah  Rapoport,  one  of  the 

It  was  made  the  vehicle  of  polemics  and  of  ridicule,  as  in  the 
case  of  Perl's  pamphlet,  or  of  satire  on  social  conditions,  as  in  the 
"  Treatise  of  Commercial  Men ",  which  appeared  at  Warsaw, 
and  the  "  Treatise  America  ",  published  at  New  York,  etc.  Fre- 
quently it  was  meant  merely  to  divert  and  amuse,  as,  for  instance, 
Hakundus,  Wilna,  1827,  and  numerous  editions  of  the  "Treatise 
Purim." 

57 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  .LITERATURE 

founders  of  the  Science  of  Judaism,  the  pursuit 
that  was  to  replace  Rabbinic  scholasticism,  and  the 
philosopher  Nahman  Krochmal,  the  promoter  of 
the  idea  of  the  "  mission  of  the  Jewish  people  ", 
a  substitute  for  the  mystic,  religious  ideal — they 
were  the  two  who  transformed  the  literary  move- 
ment inaugurated  in  Germany  into  a  permanent 
influence. 

Solomon  Jehudah  Rapoport  ( 1790-1867),  called 
"  the  father  of  the  Science  of  Judaism ",  was 
born  at  Lemberg  of  a  family  of  Rabbis.  His 
studies  were  purely  Rabbinic,  but  his  alert  mind 
grasped  every  opportunity  of  acquiring  other 
knowledge,  and  in  this  incidental  way  he  became 
familiar  first  with  French  and  then  with  German. 
The  influence  of  the  philosopher  Krochmal,  with 
whom  he  came  in  close  personal  contact,  shaped  his 
career  as  a  writer  and  a  scholar.  In  1814,  at  Lem- 
berg, he  wrote,  in  Hebrew,  a  description  of  the  city 
of  Paris  and  the  Isle  of  Elba,  to  satisfy  the  curiosity 
which  the  events  of  the  time  had  aroused  in  the 
Polish  ghetto.  In  imitation  of  Mendes,  whose 
writings  exercised  some  influence  upon  him,  he 
'later  published  a  translation  of  Racine's  "  Esther  " 
(Bikkure  ha-'Ittim,  1827),  and  of  a  number 

58 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

of  Schiller's  poems.  But  he  did  not  stop  at 
that.  His  profound  study  of  the  Jewish  scholars 
and  poets  of  the  Middle  Ages  turned  his  mind  to 
historical  investigations.  In  the  Bikkure  ha-Ittim 
and  the  Kerem  Hemed  he  published  a  series  of 
biographical  and  literary  studies,  in  which  he  shows 
himself  to  be  possessed  of  large  critical  sense  and 
keen  judgment.  In  its  sobriety  and  precision  his 
style  has  not  been  excelled.  These  studies  of  his 
gave  new  direction  to  the  eager  minds  of  the  age. 
As  a  result,  Jost,  Zunz,  and  Samuel  David  Luz- 
zatto  devoted  themselves  to  the  thorough  examina- 
tion of  the  Judaism  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
outcome  was  a  new  science,  the  Science  of  Judaism. 

Rapoport  published  also  a  pamphlet  against 
the  Hasidim  and  their  wonder-working  Rabbis, 
and  various  articles  on  the  necessity  of  promoting 
knowledge  and  civilization  among  the  Jews.  In 
this  way  he  brought  upon  himself  the  hatred  of 
the  fanatics.  Appointed  Rabbi  at  Tarnopol  at  the 
instigation  of  Perl,  the  patron  of  Jewish  science, 
he  was  forced  to  leave  the  city  by  the  intrigues  of 
the  Hasidim.  He  went  to  Prague,  to  become 
Rabbi  in  that  important  community,  and  there  he 
ended  his  days. 

The  disciple  and  successor  of  the  German  Meas- 
5  69 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

sefim,  Rapoport  inherited  from  them  the  conviction 
which  characterized  the  Jewish  Maskil,  that  sci- 
ence alone  and  modern  civilization  can  raise  the 
intellectual  level  and  improve  the  political  situation 
of  his  co-religionists.  All  his  life  he  fought  for  the 
Haskalah.  He  loved  knowledge  with  disinterested 
devotion,  and  not  merely  because  it  was  an  instru- 
ment to  promote  the  political  emancipation  of  the 
Jews.  The  work  of  assimilation  set  on  foot  in  the 
Occident,  he  realized,  was  not  applicable  in  the 
East  of  Europe,  and  would  even  be  useless  there. 
No  vain  illusions  on  the  subject  possessed  him.  He 
was  very  much  wrought  up  against  such  religious 
reforms  in  Judaism  as,  he  believed,  would  inevi- 
tably split  the  people  into  sects,  and  sow  the  seed 
of  disunion  and  indifference  to  national  institu- 
tions. This  appears  strikingly  in  his  campaign 
against  Schorr,  the  editor  of  He-Haluz,  and 
Judah  Mises,  and  especially  in  his  pamphlet  Toka- 
hat  Megullah  ("Public  Reproach"),  which  ap- 
peared in  Frankfort  in  1846.  To  those  who  fal- 
tered, having  lost  faith  in  the  future  of  Judaism, 
Rapoport  addresses  himself  in  several  of  his  writ- 
ings, especially  in  the  introduction  to  "  Esther  ", 
holding  up  his  own  ideals  before  them.  Love  of 
my  nation,  he  says  in  effect,  is  the  cornerstone  of 

60 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

my  existence.  This  love  alone  has  the  power  to 
confirm  my  faith,  for  the  national  sentiment  of  the 
Jew  and  his  religion  are  closely  linked  with  each 
other.  And  not  only  this  national  sentiment  and 
this  religion  are  inconceivable  the  one  without  the 
other,  but  a  third  factor  is  joined  with  them  so  in- 
timately as  to  be  indispensable — it  is  the  Holy 
Land. 

The  desire  to  explain  rationally  the  Jew's  love 
for  his  ancient  land  suggested  to  Rapoport,  long 
before  Buckle  and  Lazarus,  the  theory  of  the  in- 
fluence of  climate  on  the  psychology  of  nations.  In 
his  sketch  of  Rabbi  Hao-anel  (Bikkure  ha-'Ittim, 
1832),  he  explains  the  psychologic  traits  of  the 
Jewish  people  by  the  fact  that  they  resided  in  a 
temperate  climate  and  in  a  country  situated  be- 
tween Asia  and  Africa.  Thence  was  derived  the 
tendency  to  maintain  equilibrium  between  feeling 
and  reason  which  characterizes  the  Jew.  Under 
favorable  conditions,  and  if  the  Roman  conquest 
had  not  intervened,  the  Jews  would  have  reached 
the  highest  degree  of  this  equilibrium,  and  become 
a  model  nation.  That  is  why  Palestine  is  the  poli- 
tical and  spiritual  fatherland  of  the  Jew,  the  only 
country  in  which  his  genius  can  develop  untram- 
melled; that  is  why  Palestine  is  so  indissolubly 

61 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

attached  to  the  destinies  of  Israel,  and  is  so  dear 
to  every  Jewish  heart.  But  even  in  the  exile,  "  in 
the  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Jews  were 
the  sole  bearers  of  light  and  knowledge  ".'  This 
is  what  Rapoport  strove  to  demonstrate  in  his 
works  on  the  scholars  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  in 
his  Talmudic  encyclopedia,  'Erek  Millin  (Prague, 
1852),  which,  unfortunately,  was  not  finished. 

In  this  fashion  Rapoport,  who  did  not  hesitate 
to  write  on  Bible  criticism  in  Hebrew,  the  first  to 
use  the  ancient  language  for  the  purpose,  endeav- 
ored to  reconcile  the  reason  of  a  modern  mind  with 
the  faith  and  the  Messianic  hope  of  an  orthodox 
Rabbi. 

It  is  a  significant  phenomenon  that  the  Science 
of  Judaism,  the  ideal  meant  to  replace  the  dry 
study  of  the  Law,  and  fill  the  void  left  in  the  Jew- 
ish mind  by  the  course  of  recent  developments, 
took  firm  hold  upon  the  Polish  Jews,  the  very  body- 
guard of  Rabbinism,  of  which,  in  point  of  fact,  it 
is  but  a  modern  and  rational  transformation. 

Yet  this  new  science,  founded  on  the  study  of 
Israel's  glorious  past,  and  warmly  welcomed  by 
the  intellectual  and  the  cultivated  in  Western 
Europe,  could  not  entirely  satisfy  the  intelligent  in 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

Polish  Jewry.  In  an  environment  wholly  Jewish, 
having  no  reason  to  nurse  illusive  hopes  of  immi- 
nent assimilation  with  their  neighbors,  from  whom 
they  were  divided  by  every  possible  circumstance, 
beginning  with  moral  notions  and  ending  with  pol- 
itical fortune,  the  Polish  Jews  resigned  themselves 
to  a  sort  of  Messianic  mysticism.  But  the  mystic's 
explanation  of  the  phenomenon  of  the  existence  of 
Judaism  also  failed  to  satisfy  their  yearnings. 
What  they  sought  was  a  warrant  in  reason  itself 
justifying  the  permanence  of  Judaism  and  its 
future.  The  arguments  set  forth  by  Maimonides 
and  Jehudah  Halevi  contained  no  appeal  for  the 
modern  soul.  A  philosopher  was  needed,  one  who 
should  solve  the  problem  of  the  existence  of  the 
Jewish  people  and  its  proper  sphere  from  the  van- 
tage-ground of  authoritative  knowledge.  Such  a 
philosopher  arose  in  Galicia  itself. 

Nahman  Krochmal  (1785-1840),  the  origi- 
nator of  the  idea  of  the  "  mission  of  the  Jewish 
people  ",  was  born  at  Brody.  His  chief  work, 
published  posthumously  through  the  efforts  of 
Zunz,  the  Moreh  Nebuke  ha-Zeman  ("  The  Guide 
of  the  Perplexed  of  Modern  Times"),  is  the 
most  original  piece  of  philosophic  writing  in 
modern  Hebrew.  Krochmal  led  the  sad  life  of 

63 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

the  Polish-Jewish  scholar — void  of  pleasures  and 
filled  to  overflowing  with  privation  and  suffer- 
ing. His  whole  time  was  consecrated  to  Jew- 
ish science.  He  led  a  retired  life,  and  while  he 
lived  nothing  of  his  was  published.  On  account 
of  the  precarious  state  of  his  health,  he  never  left 
the  small  town  in  which  he  was  born.  However, 
his  house  became  the  foregathering  place  of  the 
votaries  of  Jewish  science.  Especially  young  men 
eager  to  learn  came  from  everywhere  to  sit  at  the 
feet  of  the  master.  The  influence  which  he  thus 
exerted  during  his  life  was  reinforced  and  perpetu- 
ated after  his  death  by  the  publication  of  the 
"  Guide  of  the  Perplexed  of  Modern  Times  ",  in 
1851,  at  Lemberg. 

The  studies  contained  in  this  work,  for  the  most 
part  unfinished  sketches,  form  a  curious  collection. 
Limitations  of  space  forbid  more  than  a  summary 
of  its  contents,  and  an  analysis  of  its  chief  princi- 
ples. 

The  need  of  finding  a  philosophic  explanation 
of  Divine  existence  forced  Hegel  to  formulate  the 
axiom,  that  reason  alone  constitutes  the  reality  of 
things,  and  absolute  truth  is  to  be  found  in  the 
union  of  the  subjective  and  the  objective — the  sub- 
jective corresponding  to  the  concrete  state  of  every 

64 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

being,  that  is,  matter,  which  forms  his  actual  rea- 
son, and  the  objective  corresponding  to  his  ab- 
stract state,  that  is,  the  idea,  which  forms  his 
absolute  reason. 

On  this  Hegelian  axiom  of  actual  reason  and 
absolute  reason,  Krochmal  builds  up  his  ingenious 
system  of  the  philosophy  of  Jewish  history.  He 
is  the  first  Jewish  scholar  who  views  Judaism,  not 
as  a  distinct  and  independent  entity,  but  as  a  part 
of  the  whole  of  civilization.  At  the  same  time, 
while  it  is  attached  to  the  civilized  world,  it  is  dis- 
tinguished by  qualities  peculiar  to  itself.  It  leads 
the  independent  existence  of  a  national  organism 
similar  to  all  others,  but  it  also  aspires  to  an  abso- 
lute, spiritual  expression,  consequently  to  universal- 
ism.  The  result  of  this  double  aspect  is  that  while 
Jewish  nationality  forms  the  element  peculiar  to 
the  Jewish  people,  its  civilization,  its  intellect  are 
universal,  and  detach  themselves  from  its  peculiar 
national  life.  Hence  it  comes  that  Jewish  culture 
is  essentially  spiritual,  ideal,  and  tends  to  promote 
the  perfection  of  the  human  kind.  Krochmal  in 
this  way  arrives  at  the  following  three  conclusions : 

i.  The  Jewish  nation  is  like  the  phoenix,  con- 
stantly arising  to  new  life  from  its  ashes.  It  com- 
prises within  itself  the  three  elements  of  Hegel's 

65 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

triad:  the  idea,  the  object,  and  the  intelligence. 
The  successive  resurrections  of  the  Jewish  people 
follow  an  ascendant  progression,  which  tends  to- 
ward the  spiritually  absolute.  Starting  as  a  polit- 
ical organism,  it  soon  developed  into  a  dogmatic- 
ally religious  sect,  only  to  be  transformed  into  a 
spiritual  entity.  Krochmal — though  he  does  not 
say  it  explicitly — sees  in  religion  only  a  passing 
phenomenon  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people, 
exactly  as  its  political  existence  was  but  a  temporary 
phase. 

2.  The  Jewish  people  presents  a  double  aspect 
to  the  observer.     It  is  national  in  its  particularism, 
or  its  concrete  aspect,  and  universal  in  its  spiritual- 
ism.    The  national  genius  of  all  other  peoples  of 
antiquity  was  narrowly  particularistic.     That  is 
why  they  were  submerged.  Only  the  Jewish  proph- 
ets conceived  of  the   absolutely  and   universally 
spiritual  and  of  moral  truth,  and  therein  lies  the 
secret  of  the  continued  existence  of  the  Jewish 
people. 

3.  With  Hegel  Krochmal *  admits  that  the  re- 
sultants from  the  historical  development  of  a  peo- 

8  See  chapters  IX,  XVI,  and  others;  also  M.  Bernfeld,  Da  at 
Elohim  ("  The  Knowledge  of  God  ")  ;  and  M.  Landau,  Die  Bibel 
und  der  Hegelianismus  (Dissertation). 

66 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

pie  form  the  quintessence  of  its  existence.  But 
what  he  does  not  believe  is  that  the  essential  ele- 
ment in  the  existence  of  a  people  is  the  resultant. 
The  process  of  historical  evolution  is  in  itself  an 
adequate  reason  for  its  existence.  More  rational 
than  Hegel  himself,  Krochmal  thus  avoids  the  con- 
tradiction which  follows  from  the  mystical  defi- 
nition of  existence  in  the  Hegelian  system. 

For  the  German  metaphysician,  existence  is  the 
interval  between  not  being  and  being,  that  is,  the 
period  of  becoming.  Krochmal  simply  eliminates 
this  more  or  less  materialistic  notion  of  the  in- 
terval. He  substitutes  the  moral  effects  produced 
incidentally  to  the  course  of  historic  action,  for  the 
idea  of  effects  posterior  to  the  same  action,  the 
effects  called  the  resultants.  The  more  or  less 
materialistic  manner  in  which  historic  action  de- 
velops replaces  with  him  the  idea  of  the  transition 
period,  the  period  of  becoming,  as  a  mysterious 
intermediary  between  actual  reason  and  absolute 
reason. 

Proceeding  from  these  axioms,  Krochmal,  at  a 
time  in  which  Folkerpsychologie  and  sociology 
were  embryonic  sciences,  explains  the  phenomena 
of  Jewish  history  as  well  as  the  phenomena  of  the 
religious  and  spiritual  evolution  of  mankind,  and 
does  it  with  remarkable  originality  and  profundity. 

67 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Krochmal's  ideas  produced  an  effect  not  to  be 
exaggerated  upon  the  intelligent  among  the  Polish 
Jews,  who  had  thrown  off  the  trammels  of  dogma- 
tism and  mystic  hope,  but  were  in  a  hesitating 
state  of  mind,  casting  about  for  the  reason  of  their 
very  existence  as  Jews.  His  book  offered  them  an 
explanation,  based  on  modern  science  and  yet  in 
accord  with  their  Jewish  essence  as  revealed  by 
history  and  therefore  satisfying  to  their  national 
pride. 

Thus  Krochmal  opened  up  a  way  for  the  seekers 
after  enlightenment  in  future  generations.  On  the 
ideas  of  the  master,  his  successors  built  up  their 
conceptions  of  the  Jewish  people.  Abraham 
Mapu,  the  father  of  the  historical  novel  in  He- 
brew, drew  his  inspiration  from  the  "  Guide  ",* 
and  in  our  days  the  well-known  essayist  Ahad  ha- 
'Am  has  seized  upon  certain  of  Krochmal's  prin- 
ciples, notably  the  importance  to  be  attached  to 
the  spiritual  element  in  the  life  of  the  Jewish 
people. 

These  two  leaders,  Rapoport  and  Krochmal, 
stimulated  a  whole  school  of  writers,  whose  works 

4  R.    Brainin,    in    his    biography    of    Mapu,    p.    64,    Warsaw, 
1900- 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

established  the  fortune  of  the  Hebrew  language 
in  Galicia.  With  more  or  less  originality,  all  de- 
partments of  literature  and  science  were  cultivated. 

Very  soon,  however,  the  times  ceased  to  be  pro- 
pitious to  serene  thinking  and  investigation  of  the 
past.  Hasidism,  triumphant,  having  conquered 
the  whole  of  Russian-Poland,  threatened  to  crush 
all  thought  and  reason  at  the  very  time  in  which  the 
Kulturkampf  was  battering  at  the  gates  of  the 
Polish  ghetto.  Rapoport,  we  have  seen,  contended 
with  Hasidism  in  a  witty  pamphlet.  After  him, 
there  appeared  a  satirist  of  great  talent,  who  waged 
pitiless  war  with  ijs  partisans  and  with  all  the 
powers  of  darkness. 

Isaac  Erter,  of  Przemysl  (1792-1841),  was  the 
friend  and  disciple  of  Krochmal.  An  infant  prod- 
igy, he  spent  all  the  years  of  his  early  childhood 
in  the  exclusive  study  of  the  Law.  When  he  was 
thirteen  years  old,  his  father  married  him  to  a  girl 
of  eighteen,  whom  he  had  not  set  eyes  upon  before 
the  day  of  their  marriage.  She  did  not  live  long. 
Erter  went  on  with  his  Rabbinic  studies,  and  mar- 
ried a  second  time.  A  lucky  chance  brought  him 
in  contact  with  a  Maskil  who  led  him  to  the  study 
of  Hebrew  grammar,  and  he  became  a  devotee  of 
the  Haskalah.  Encouraged  by  Rapoport  and 

69 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Krochmal,  with  whom  he  had  entered  into  rela- 
tions, he  published  his  first  satire  on  Hasidism.  It 
evoked  considerable  comment.  Persecuted  by  the 
fanatics  on  account  of  it,  he  could  not  continue  to 
follow  his  vocation  as  teacher  of  Hebrew.  He  was 
obliged  to  quit  his  native  city,  and  he  went  to 
Brody,  where  the  circle  of  Maskilim  welcomed 
him  with  delight.  Otherwise  his  life  at  Brody  was 
full  of  hardships.  His  wife,  as  courageous  as  she 
was  intelligent,  urged  him  to  equip  himself  for 
some  serious  profession.  Accordingly,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-three,  he  went  to  Buda-Pesth  to  study 
medicine,  and  five  years  later  he  returned  to  Brody 
fortified  with  his  diploma  as  a  physician.  There- 
after he  occupied  an  independent  position,  and  he 
could  dare  wage  uncompromising  warfare  with 
obscurantism  and  the  mystics.  He  published  nu- 
merous articles  in  the  periodicals  of  the  day.  After 
his  death,  they  were  collected  by  the  poet  Letteris 
in  one  volume  bearing  the^  title  Ha-Zofeh  le-Bet 
Yisrael  ("  The  Watchman  for  the  House  of 
Israel"). 

Erter  as  satirist  and  critic  of  morals  is  a  writer 
of  the  first  order.  For  vivacity,  his  style,  at  once 
incisive  and  elegant,  may  be  compared  with  that 
of  his  contemporaries  Heine  and  Borne.  He  pos- 

70 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

sesses  not  a  few  traits  in  common  with  these  two 
writers.  More  serious  and  positive  than  Heine, 
he  pursues  a  steady  aim  in  his  satires.  Tears 
mingle  with  his  laugh,  and  if  he  castigates,  it  is 
in  order  to  chasten.  More  original  and  more  poetic 
than  Borne,  he  thinks  clearly  and  to  the  point,  and 
the  effect  of  his  thought  is  in  no  way  impaired  by 
his  stilted  mannerisms.  Without  bias  or  passion, 
and  with  fine  irony,  he  rallies  the  Hasidim  on  their 
baneful  superstitions,  their  worship  of  angels  and 
demons.  He  criticises  the  ignorance  and  narrow- 
mindedness  of  the  Rabbis,  and  scourges  the  shabby 
vanity  of  the  comrnunal  representatives. 

Animated  by  the  desire  to  spread  truth  and 
culture  among  his  co-religionists,  he  does  not  direct 
his  attacks  against  the  fanatics  alone.  He  is 
equally  bold  in  driving  home  the  truth  with  the 
"  moderns  "  of  the  ghetto,  the  "  intellectuals  ", 
boastful  of  their  diplomas,  who  seek  their  own 
profit,  and  do  nothing  to  further  the  welfare  of  the 
people  in  general.  Corresponding  to  the  number 
of  articles  he  wrote  is  the  number  of  arrows  shot 
into  the  very  heart  of  the  backward  system  im- 
posed upon  the  Jews  of  his  country.  He  is  the 
first  Hebrew  poet  who  dared  expose  the  social 
evils  honeycombing  the  curious  surroundings,  full 

71 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

of  contrasts  and  naivete,  amid  which  his  people 
lived.  This  he  did  in  a  series  of  startling  descrip- 
tions. After  the  fashion  of  Cervantes,  he  employs 
ridicule  to  kill  off  the  Rabbi  and  murder  the  mystic. 

Erter  deserves  a  place  in  the  first  rank  of  the 
champions  of  civilization  among  the  Jews. 

Galicia  gave  birth  also  to  a  lyric  poet  of  some 
distinction.  MeTr  Halevi  Letteris  (1815-1871) 
was  a  learned  philologist,  but  his  chief  literary 
excellencies  he  displayed  as  a  poet.  Like  Rapo- 
port's,  his  maiden  effort  was  a  translation  of  the 
Biblical  dramas  of  Racine.  His  workmanship  was 
exact  and  beautiful.  He  was  a  productive  writer, 
and  his  activity  expressed  itself  in  every  sort  of 
literary  form.  He  left  upward  of  thirty  volumes 
in  prose  and  verse.5  His  Hebrew  version  of  Faust, 
published  at  Vienna,  is  a  masterpiece  in  point  of 
style,  and  it  gained  him  conspicuous  renown.  He 
ventured  upon  a  bold  departure  from  Goethe's 
work.  Desiring  to  transfer  the  dramatic  action  to 
soil  wholly  Jewish,  he  substituted  for  Faust  a 
Gnostic  Rabbi  of  the  Talmud,  Elisha  ben  Abuyah, 
surnamed  Aher  ("Another").  This  change 

His  poetry  was  collected  in  one  volume,  and  published  at 
Vienna,  under  the  title  Tofes  Kinnor  we- U gab  ("  Master  of  the 
Lyre  and  the  Cithern"). 

72 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

necessitated  a  number  of  others,  which  were  far 
from  being  advantageous  to  the  Hebrew  version. 

The  prose  of  Letteris  is  heavy.  It  lacks  grace 
and  naturalness,  qualities  possessed  by  the  greater 
number  of  his  contemporaries  in  Russia.  It  should, 
however,  be  set  down  to  his  credit  that,  unlike 
many  others,  he  never  showed  any  inclination  to 
sacrifice  clearness  of  thought  to  elegance  of  style. 

By  way  of  compensation,  his  poetry,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  style  and  versification,  is  raised 
beyond  adverse  criticism.  It  merits  the  description 
classic.  His  numerous  translations  from  modern 
poets  prove  the  facility  with  which  the  ancient 
language  can  be  handled  by  a  master.  But,  having 
acknowledged  the  superiority  of  his  style,  the  liter- 
ary critic  has  said  all  there  is  to  be  said  in  praise 
of  his  work.  The  breath  of  poesy,  the  tone  of 
personal  inspiration,  the  gift  of  fancy,  are  on  the 
whole  lacking.  His  most  original  poems  are  noth- 
ing more  than  an  echo  of  the  romantic  school. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  certain  simple  charm 
diffused  through  some  of  his  verses,  especially 
those  in  which  he  pours  out  his  sorrowful  Jewish 
heart.  His  Zionist  poems  are  perfect  expressions 
of  the  national  spirit.  One  of  them,  the  very  best 
his  muse  has  produced,  has  been  almost  universally 

73 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

accepted  as  the  national  hymn.  It  is  called  Yonah 
Homiah  ("  The  Plaintive  Dove  ").  The  dove  is 
the  symbol  for  Israel  used  by  the  prophetical 
writers  of  the  Bible.  Her  mournful  cooing  voices 
the  grief  of  the  Jewish  people  driven  forth  from 
its  native  land  and  forsaken  by  its  God. 

"  '  Alas  for  my  affliction !  I  must  roam  about  abandoned  since 
I  left  the  shelter  in  the  cleft  of  my  rock.  Around  me  rages  the 
storm,  alone  and  forsaken  I  fly  to  the  forest  to  seek  safety  in  its 
thickets.  My  Friend  has  abandoned  me !  His  anger  was  kindled, 
because  faithless  to  Him  I  permitted  the  stranger  to  seduce  me, 
and  now  my  enemies  harry  me  without  respite.  Since  my  Friend 
deserted  me,  my  eyes  have  been  overflowing  with  tears.  Without 
Thee,  O  my  Glory,  what  care  I  for  life?  Better  to  dwell  in  the 
shadow  of  death  than  wander  o'er  the  wide  world.  For  the 
oppressed  death  is  as  a  brother  in  adversity. 

"'Yonder  two  birds  are  billing  and  cooing,  and  tasting  of  the 
sweets  of  love.  They  live  at  ease  ensconced  in  the  branches  of 
the  trees,  nestling  amid  green  olive  vines  and  garlands  of  flow- 
ers. I,  only  I,  am  exiled !  Where  shall  I  find  a  refuge  ?  My 
rock-shelter  is  hedged  about  with  prickly  thorns  and  thistles. 
....  E'en  the  wild  birds  of  prey  mate  happily,  only  I,  poor 
mourning  dove,  alone  among  all  beings  alive,  dwell  apart.  E'en 
those  who  gorge  themselves  with  innocent  blood  live  tranquil  in 
their  home  eyries.  Alas !  only  the  righteous  must  weep,  only  the 
poor  are  stripped  of  all  hope!  .... 

"  '  Return,  then,  my  Life,  my  Breath !  Return,  my  Comforter ! 
Hear  my  bitter  wail  of  woe,  lead  me  back  to  my  home.  Have 
pity  on  my  loneliness!  Restore  Thy  love  to  me,  bring  me  once 

74 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

again  to  the  cleft  of  my  rock,  and  let  me  hide  myself  in  the 
shadow  of  Thy  wings.' 

"  Such  moaning  and  dull  wailing,  my  ear  caught  in  the  night, 
when  the  fields  and  the  woods  were  bathed  in  Divine  peace;  and 
hearing  the  plaintive  voice  of  the  mourning  dove,  my  soul  knew 
it  to  be  the  voice  of  the  bitter  woe  of  the  daughter  of  my 
people !  " 

Other  writers  and  translators  in  large  numbers 
added  to  the  lustre  of  Galicia  as  a  centre  of  He- 
brew literature.  The  most  important  among  them 
is  Samson  Bloch,  the  author  of  a  geography  of  the 
world,  including  a  sentimental  description  of  Pales- 
tine, written  in  oratorical  style.  Joseph  Efrati 
(1820)  wrote  an  historical  drama,  Meluhat  Shaiil 
("The  Royalty  of  Saul"),  which  deserves  men- 
tion for  its  fine  conception.  And  Judah  Mises,  in 
his  two  works,  Tekunat  ha-Rabbanim  ("  Charac- 
terization of  the  Rabbis"),  and  Kinat  ha-Emet 
("  The  Zeal  for  Truth  "),  opposed  Rabbinic  tra- 
dition and  the  authorities  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
His  antiquated  rationalism  called  forth  the  severe 
reproaches  of  Rapoport.  Nevertheless  he  stirred 
up  a  grave  controversy,  which  gave  rise  to  a  series 
of  consequences  extending  down  to  the  literary 
warfare  begun  by  the  collection  Ha-Roeh  u-Me- 
bakker  ("  The  Seer  and  the  Searcher  "),  published 

6  76 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

by  Bodek  and  Fischmann,  in  which  the  works  of 
Zunz,  S.  D.  Luzzatto,  and  Jost  are  criticised. 

At  this  point  ceases  the  dominance  of  the  lit- 
terateurs of  Austrian  Poland.  The  centre  of  liter- 
ary activity  was  thereafter  transferred  to  Russia 
permanently.  Hasidism  was  about  to  take  com- 
plete possession  of  Galicia,  and  Hebrew  literature, 
confined  to  a  few  small  circles,  was  never  again  to 
reach  there  the  heights  which  it  had  occupied  in 
the  days  of  Rapoport  and  Krochmal. 

Though  the  centre  of  the  Hebrew  literary  move- 
ment during  the  earlier  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury lay  in  Galicia,  yet  the  Jews  elsewhere  had  a 
share  in  it.  In  almost  all  the  Slav  countries  as 
well  as  in  the  Occident,  in  Germany,  in  Holland, 
and  especially  in  Italy,  Hebrew  was  cultivated 
both  by  scholars  and  literary  men.  Some  of  the 
works  of  Zunz,  Geiger,  Jellinek,  and  Frankel,  for 
instance,  were  published  in  Hebrew. 

At  Amsterdam,  out  of  a  whole  school  of  littera- 
teurs, but  one  name  can  be  selected  for  special 
mention,  that  of  the  poet  and  scholar  Samuel 
Mulder  (1789-1862).  Besides  being  active  as  the 
editor  of  several  collections  of  essays,  and  writing 
remarkable  historical  studies,  he  was  the  composer 

76 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

of  poems  very  much  admired  by  his  contempo- 
raries. Most  of  them  appeared  in  the  Bikkure 
To'elet  ("Useful  First  Fruits"),  which  he  pub- 
lished at  Amsterdam,  in  1820,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Maskilim  society  To'elet.  The  Talmudic 
narrative  about  the  seduction  of  the  celebrated 
wife  of  Rabbi  Mei'r,  forms  the  subject  of  an  excel- 
lent poem,  entitled  "  Beruriah  ",  on  the  fickleness 
of  women. 

In  Germany  it  was  chiefly  the  discussion  evoked 
by  the  movement  for  religious  reforms  (1840- 
1860)  that  created  a  literature  in  Hebrew.  To 
cite  an  instance,  there'was  the  fiery  pamphlet  Or 
Nogah  ("  The  Bright  Light  "),  by  E.  Lieberman, 
a  masterpiece  in  point  of  style  and  as  a  satire  upon 
the  orthodox  party,  together  with  the  replies  of  the 
Rabbis  and  the  men  of  letters.  It  is  curious  to  read 
pleas,  in  Hebrew,  for  the  abolition  of  the  Hebrew 
language,  and  against  the  maintenance  of  Jewish 
nationality.  Abraham  Geiger  sided  with  the  ex- 
treme reformers,  while  Frankel  and  Zunz  insisted 
upon  the  necessity  of  retaining  Hebrew  as  the 
language  of  worship.  Another  remarkable  pam- 
phlet directed  against  religious  reforms  in  Judaism 
must  be  singled  out  for  mention,  that  written  by 
Mei'r  Israel  Bresselau,  entitled  Hereb  Nokemet 

77 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Nekam  Berit  ("  The  Avenging  Sword  of  the 
Covenant "). 

Moses  Mendelsohn,  of  Hamburg,  a  German 
Harizi  both  in  the  character  of  his  work  and  by 
reason  of  his  position  as  a  straggler  of  the  Meas- 
sefim,  was  a  disciple  and  imitator  of  Wessely.  His 
Makamat  Pene  Tebel  ("The  Face  of  the  World", 
Amsterdam,  1870)  contain  literary  reminiscences. 

Among  the  contributors  to  the  periodical  litera- 
ture published  in  Galicia,  Judah  Jeiteles,  of  Prague 
(1773-1838),  should  be  mentioned  as  a  writer  of 
epigrams,  models  of  their  kind.' 

The  following  one  is  addressed  to  Tirzah: 

"  She  is  as  beautiful  as  the  moon,  radiant  as  the  sun ;  her  whole 
being  resembles  the  two  heavenly  luminaries.  The  maiden  lav- 
ishes her  gifts  upon  the  whole  world,  and  like  the  two  orbs  she 
rules  both  day  and  night." 

Jeiteles  also  carried  on  a  sharp  pamphlet  war 
against  Hasidism.7 

Hungary,  whose  Jews  had  the  same  customs  and 
characteristics  as  the  Jews  of  Poland,  gave  birth 

'Bene  ha-Ne'urim  ("Youth"),  Prague,  1821. 

TLike  the  Vienna  and  the  Brody  of  that  day,  Prague  also  had 
its  literary  centres.  Among  its  Hebrew  men  of  letters  was  Gabriel 
Sudfeld,  the  father  of  the  celebrated  author  Max  Nordau,  and 
himself  the  author  of  a  drama  and  of  an  exegetical  work,  which 
appeared  in  1850. 

78 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

to  one  poet  of  real  merit.  Solomon  Levinsohn,  of 
Moor  (1789-1822),  was  brought  up  in  orthodox 
surroundings,  and  had  to  contend  against  all  sorts 
of  obstacles,  spiritual  and  material.  He  triumphed 
over  them,  and  became  a  scholar  of  serious  attain- 
ments and  a  poet  of  distinction.  Besides  his  his- 
torical studies,  in  German,  he  wrote  an  excellent 
geography  of  Palestine,  in  Hebrew,  under  the  title 
Mehkere  Erez  ("  Investigations  of  the  Land"), 
published  at  Vienna  in  1819.  His  poetical  treatise 
Melizat  Yeshurun  (a  Hebrew  rhetoric),  also  pub- 
lished at  Vienna,  in  1846,  is  a  master  work,  both 
as  a  treatise  on  rhetoric  and  as  poetic  literature. 
The  introductory  poem,  on  "  Poetic  Eloquence  ", 
an  apotheosis  of  poetry  and  belles  lettres,  is  one  of 
the  finest  ever  written  in  Hebrew.  The  poet  dis- 
plays a  rich  imagination,  his  figures  of  speech  are 
clear-cut  and  telling,  and  his  style  is  remarkable 
for  its  classic  quality.  An  unhappy  love  affair 
terminated  his  days  before  his  genius  reached  the 
period  of  full  flowering.' 

The  literary  movement  of  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  did  not  succeed  in  making  itself 

*  Simon  Bacher,  the  father  of  the  scholar  Wilhelm  Bacher,  also 
•won  a  name  as  an  eloquent  poet. 

79 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

felt  among  the  masses.  It  failed  to  call  forth  a 
national  literature  of  even  a  slight  degree  of  origi- 
nality. The  Maskilim  of  Galicia  fell  into  the  same 
mistake  as  their  predecessors  in  Germany.  In  con- 
stituting themselves  the  champions  of  humanism 
in  Poland,  in  a  community  thoroughly  religious, 
and  affected  by  modern  conceptions  only  superfi- 
cially, they  should  not  have  attached  the  undue  im- 
portance they  did  to  arguments  addressed  to  reason. 
Their  appeal  should  have  been  directed  to  the  feel- 
ings of  their  co-religionists.  They  labored  under 
the  delusion  that  positive  reasoning  could  carry 
conviction  to  a  people  immersed  in  mystical  specu- 
lation, crushed  by  the  double  yoke  of  ceremonial- 
ism and  an  inferior  social  position,  and  sustained 
only  by  the  Messianic  hope  of  a  glorious  future. 
If  Galician  humanism  never  spread  beyond  the 
small  circles  of  the  literary,  it  was  only  what  might 
have  been  expected.  It  could  not  become  a  popular 
movement.  Neither  the  depth  of  thinkers  like 
Rapoport  and  Krochmal,  nor  the  biting  satire 
of  an  Erter,  nor  the  Zionistic  lyricism  of  a 
Letteris,  had  force  enough  to  cry  a  halt  to  the 
Hasidim  and  impede  their  dark  work.  In  point  of 
fact,  the  newer  ideas  all  but  failed  to  make  an  im- 
pression on  the  most  independent  of  the  young 

80 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

Rabbis.  They  were  affrighted  by  the  religious  de- 
cadence in  evidence  in  Germany,  and  they  took  a 
rather  determined  stand  in  opposition  to  the  spread 
of  a  secular  literature  in  Hebrew."  As  a  result, 
we  shall  see  a  steady  decline  in  the  position  of  the 
Hebrew  litterateur  in  Poland,  and  a  decrease  in  the 
number  of  Hebrew  publications.  The  Mehabber 
makes  his  appearance  as  a  type — the  vagabond 
author  who  offers  his  own  writings  for  sale,  fairly 
forcing  them  on  unwilling  purchasers.  No  more 
eloquent  index  is  needed  to  the  state  of  a  struggling 
literature. 

^ 

It  is  questionable  whether  the  work  of  the  Gali- 
cian  Maskilim  would  not  have  been  doomed  to 
perpetual  sterility,  with  no  hope  of  ever  making  an 
impression  on  the  Jewish  masses,  if  an  Italian 
writer  had  not  appeared  on  the  scene,  who  pos- 
sessed the  Jewish  feeling  that  was  lacking  in  his 
predecessors.  In  Samuel  David  Luzzatto  general 
culture  and  genuine  breadth  of  mind  were  united 
with  Jewish  loyalty  raised  to  the  highest  pitch. 

"Cases  might  be  cited  besides  that  of  the  learned  friend  of 
Rapoport,  Jacob  Samuel  Bick,  referred  to  by  Bernfeld  in  his 
biography  of  Rapoport,  p.  13.  He  deserted  from  the  humanist 
camp,  in  which  his  Jewish  feeling  was  left  unsatisfied,  and  took 
refuge  in  Hasidism. 

81 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

He  succeeded  in  discovering  the  formula  by  which 
modern  culture  can  be  brought  to  the  religious 
without  wounding  their  Jewish  sensibilities.  The 
life  and  work  of  so  remarkable  a  personage  deserve 
more  than  passing  mention. 

After  a  rather  long  period  of  inactivity  in  He- 
brew letters  in  Italy,  a  new  literary  and  scientific 
school  sprang  into  being  during  the  first  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  It  participated  with  not- 
able success  in  the  movement  of  the  north.  The 
celebrated  critic,  Isaac  Samuel  Reggio  (1784- 
1854),  an  independent  thinker,  exercised  enormous 
influence  upon  his  contemporaries  by  his  publica- 
tions in  the  history  of  literature  and  his  bold  arti- 
cles on  religious  reform.  His  chief  work,  "  The 
Law  and  Philosophy  ",  which  appeared  in  Vienna 
in  1827,  is  an  attempt  at  harmonizing  the  Jewish 
Law  with  science. 

The  best  known  of  the  poets  were  Joseph 
Almanzi 10  (1790-1860)  and  Rachel  Morpurgo. 
Almanzi's  poems  were  published  in  two  collections, 
one  entitled  Higgayon  be-Kitinor  ("  The  Lyric 
Harp"),  and  Nezem  Zahab  ("Ornament  of 
Gold"). 

10  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  anthology  of  the  Italian  poets 
of  the  period,  published  by  Abraham  Baruch  Piperno,  under  the 
title  Kol  'Uffab  ("The  Voice  of  the  Harp",  Leghorn,  1846). 

82 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

Rachel  Morpurgo  (1790-1860),  a  kinswoman 
of  the  Luzzatto  family,  left  a  collection  of  poems 
on  various  subjects,  entitled  'Ugab  Rahel  ("  The 
Harp  of  Rachel"),  a  carefully  prepared  edition 
of  which  was  published  by  the  scholar  Vittorio 
Castiglioni.  It  is  a  curious  document  in  the  history 
of  Hebrew  literature.  The  language  of  the  poetess 
is  essentially  Biblical,  her  style  sprightly  and  origi- 
nal, and  her  thought  is  dominated  by  a  fine  serenity 
of  soul  and  unwavering  faith  in  the  Messianic 
future  of  Israel. 

The  following  sonnet  was  inspired  by  the  demo- 
cratic revolution  of  1848,  which  shook  modern 
society  to  its  very  foundations,  and  in  which  the 
Jews  were  largely  and  deeply  interested : 

"  He  who  bringeth  low  the  proud,  hath  brought  low  all  the 
kings  of  the  earth,  ....  He  hath  sent  disaster  and  ruin  into  the 
fortified  cities,  and  sated  with  blood  their  cringing  defenders. 

"  All,  both  young  and  old,  gird  on  the  sword,  greedier  for  prey 
than  the  beasts  of  the  forest;  they  all  cry  for  liberty,  the  wise 
and  the  boors ;  the  fury  of  the  battle  rages  like  the  billows  of  the 
stormy  sea 

"  Not  thus  the  servants  of  God,  the  valiant  of  His  host.  They 
do  battle  day  and  night  with  their  evil  inclinations.  Patiently 
they  bear  the  yoke  of  their  Rock,  and  increase  cometh  to  their 
strength.  My  Friend  is  like  a  hart,  like  a  sportive  gazelle. 

"He  will  sound  the  great  trumpet  to  summon  the  Deliverer; 
83 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

the  righteous  Sprout  shall  grow  forth  from  the  earth.  Their 
Rock  will  soothe  their  pain,  He  will  repair  every  breach.  The 
Lord  reigneth,  and  the  earth  rejoiceth  aloud." 

Rachel's  finest  poem  is  without  a  doubt  the  one 
named  'Emek  'Akor  ("The  Dark  Valley")  in 
which  she  affirms  her  steadfast  faith  in  the  truths 
and  consolations  of  religion : 

"  O  dark  valley,  covered  with  night  and  mist,  how  long  wilt 
thou  keep  me  bound  with  thy  chains?  Better  to  die  and  abide 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty,  than  sit  desolate  in  the  seeth- 
ing waters." 

"  I  discern  them  from  afar,  the  hills  of  eternity,  their  ever- 
enduring  summits  clothed  with  garlands  of  bloom.  O  that  I 
might  rise  on  wings  like  the  eagle,  fly  upward  with  my  eyes,  and 
raise  my  countenance  and  gaze  into  the  heart  of  the  sun ! 

"  O  Heaven,  how  beautiful  are  thy  paths,  they  lead  to  where 
liberty  reigneth  ever.  How  gentle  the  zephyrs  wafted  over  thy 
heights,  who  hath  words  to  tell  ?  " 

The  same  mystic  note  struck  by  Rachel  Mor- 
purgo  recurs  in  the  works  of  other  Italian  writers 
of  the  time.  It  distinguishes  them  strikingly  from 
their  contemporaries  in  Galicia  and  Russia,  who 
proclaim  themselves  almost  without  exception  the 
followers  of  a  relentless  rationalism. 

Unquestionably  the  most  original  of  all  these 
writers,  and  the  one  who  occupied  the  most  promi- 

84 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

nent  and  influential  place,  is  Samuel  David  Luz- 
zatto  (1800-1865).  He  was  born  at  Triest,  the 
son  of  a  carpenter,  a  poor  man,  but  none  the  less 
educated  and  respected.  The  childhood  years  of 
Luzzatto  were  passed  in  poverty  and  study.  He 
emerged  a  conqueror  from  the  struggle  for  life 
and  knowledge.  As  early  as  1829  he  was  ap- 
pointed rector  of  the  Rabbinical  Seminary  at 
Padua.  Thereafter  he  could  devote  himself  with- 
out hindrance  to  science  and  the  education  of  dis- 
ciples, many  of  whom  became  celebrated. 

Luzzatto's  learning  was  vast  in  extent  and  as 
thorough.  Besides,  ke  possessed  literary  taste  and 
modern  culture.  In  his  southern  temperament, 
feeling  had  the  upper  hand  of  reason.  He  was  an 
indefatigable  worker,  his  mind  was  always  actively 
alert.  Versed  alike  in  philology,  archaeology, 
poetry,  and  philosophy,  he  was  productive  in  each 
of  these  departments,  without  ever  laying  himself 
open  to  the  charge  of  mediocrity.  He  was  the 
creator  of  the  Science  of  Judaism  in  the  Italian 
language,  but  above  all  he  was  a  Hebrew  writer. 

He  published  excellent  editions  of  the  Hebrew 
masters  of  the  Middle  Ages,  for  the  first  time 
bringing  to  the  doors  of  readers,  scholarly  readers 
as  well  as  others,  the  works  of  such  poets  as  Jehu- 

85 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

dah  Halevi  (Prague,  1840).  The  notes  in  these 
editions  of  his  are  ingenious  and  scientific.  His 
own  verses  and  poems  are  wholly  devoid  of  in- 
spiration and  fancy,  but  in  form  and  style  they  are 
irreproachable.11  His  prose  is  vigorous  and  pre- 
cise, at  the  same  time  preserving  some  of  the  Ori- 
ental charm  native  to  the  Hebrew. 

His  chief  distinction  is  that  he  was  a  romantic 
Jew.  His  patriotic  heart  was  chilled  by  the  attacks 
upon  the  Jewish  religion  and  upon  Jewish  national- 
ism by  the  German  and  Galician  humanists.  He 
was  hostile  to  rationalism,  and  opposed  it  all  his 
life.  In  his  sight,  science,  the  importance  of  which 
he  in  no  degree  denied,  was  yet  not  equal  in  value 
to  religious  feeling.  This  alone,  he  held,  is  able 
to  establish  morality  in  a  position  of  supremacy. 

S.  Bernfeld,  in  his  sketch  of  Rapoport,"  con- 
siders it  a  surprising  anachronism  that  this  roman- 
ticist, this  Jewish  Chateaubriand,  should  have  ap- 
peared on  the  scene  at  the  very  moment  of  the 
triumph  of  rationalism  in  Hebrew  letters  every- 
where. Luzzatto  was  the  first  among  Hebrew 

humanists  to  claim  the  right  of  existence  not  only 

/ 

11  Kinnor   Na'im    ("The    Sweet   Lyre"),   Vienna,    1825,    and 
others. 
"Warsaw  and  Berlin,  1899. 

86 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

for  Jewish  nationality,  but  also  for  the  Jewish  re- 
ligion in  its  integrity. 

"  A  people  in  possession  of  a  land  of  its  own  can  maintain 
itself,  even  without  a  religion  of  its  own.  But  the  Jewish  people, 
dispersed  in  all  four  corners  of  the  earth,  can  maintain  itself 
only  by  virtue  of  its  attachment  to  its  faith.  And  if,  heaven 
forbid,  it  should  cease  to  believe  in  revelation,  it  must  inevitably 

be    assimilated    with    the    other    peoples The    science    of 

Judaism,  with  which  some  scholars u  are  at  present  occupying 
themselves  in  Germany,  cannot  preserve  Judaism.  It  is  not  an 
object  in  itself  to  them.  When  all  is  said,  Goethe  and  Schiller 
are  more  important  to  these  gentlemen,  and  much  dearer  to  them, 
than  all  the  prophets  and  all  the  Rabbis  of  the  Talmud.  They 
pursue  the  Science  of  Judaism  pretty  much  as  others  study 
Egyptology  or  Assyriology,  or  the  lore  of  Persia.  They  are 
inspired  by  a  love  of  science,  by  the  desire  for  personal  renown, 
or,  at  best,  by  the  intention  to  attach  glory  to  the  name  of  Israel, 
and  they  extol  certain  old  works  for  the  purpose  of  hastening 
the  first  redemption,  that  is,  the  political  emancipation  of  the 
Jews.  But  this  Science  of  Judaism  has  no  stability.  It  cannot 
survive  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews,  or  the  death  of  those  who 
studied  the  Torah  and  believed  in  God  and  Moses  before  they 
took  lessons  of  Eichhorn  and  his  disciples." 

"  The  true  Science  of  Judaism,  the  science  which  will  last  as 
long  as  time  itself,  is  that  which  is  founded  on  the  faith ;  which 
endeavors  to  understand  the  Bible  as  a  Divine  work,  and  the  his- 
tory of  a  peculiar  people  whose  lot  has  been  peculiar;  which, 

13  Jost,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Jewish  People  ",  etc. 
87 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

finally,  dwells  upon  those  moments  in  the  various  epochs  of  Jew- 
ish history  when  the  innate  genius  of  Judaism  wages  a  conflict 
with  the  genius  of  humanity  in  general,  as  it  lies  in  wait  without, 
and  how  the  Divine  spirit  of  Judaism  mastered  the  spirit  of  hu- 
manity throughout  all  the  centuries.  For  the  day  on  which  the 
positions  shall  be  reversed,  and  the  spirit  of  humanity  shall 
remain  in  possession  of  the  field,  that  day  will  be  the  last  in  the 
life  of  the  people  of  Israel." 

This  conception  of  the  providential  role  assigned 
to  Israel  is  the  point  at  which  the  Italian  romanti- 
cist meets  Krochmal,  wide  apart  though  their 
starting-places  are.  At  bottom  both  do  but  in- 
terpret the  ancient  notion  of  the  Divine  selection 
of  Israel  and  of  a  "  chosen  people  ".  But  while 
Krochmal  regards  religion  as  a  fleeting  phase  in 
the  existence  of  the  nation,  for  Luzzatto  religion 
is  an  essential  element  in  Judaism,  a  view  not  un- 
like Bossuet's.  However,  it  does  not  lead  him 
astray.  He  still  tries  to  harmonize  faith  with  the 
demands  of  the  modern  spirit.  The  Jewish  re- 
ligion is  in  his  opinion  the  moral  doctrine  par  excel- 
lence. Like  Heine  he  takes  the  world  to  be  domi- 
nated by  two  opposite  forces,  Hellenism  and  He- 
braism. Justice,  truth,  the  good,  and  self-abnega- 
tion, whatever  appertains  to  these  is  Jewish.  The 
beautiful,  the  rational,  the  sensuous,  is  Attic.  Luz- 
zatto does  not  hesitate  to  criticise  the  masters  of 

88 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

the  Middle  Ages  rather  sharply,  chief  among  them 
Maimonides,  who  attempted  the  impossible  when 
he  endeavored  to  harmonize  science  and  faith, 
reason  and  feeling,  Moses  and  Aristotle.  These 
are  the  irreconcilable  oppositions  in  human  life. 

"  Science  does  not  make  us  happy ;  the  highest  morality  alone 
is  capable  of  conferring  true  happiness  upon  us,  and  spiritual 
peace.  And  this  morality  is  to  be  found  not  with  Aristotle,  but 
only  with  the  prophets  of  Israel. 

"  The  happiness  of  the  Jewish  people,  the  people  of  morality, 
does  not  depend  upon  its  political  emancipation,  but  upon  its 
faith  and  its  morality.  The  French  and  German  Rabbis  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  simple-minded  and  uncultured,  but  pious  and  sin- 
cere, are  preferable  to  the  speculative  minds  of  Spain,  whose 
arguing  and  rhetoric  warped  their  judgment." 

Such  ideas  as  these  involved  Luzzatto  in  dis- 
cussions and  polemics  with  the  greater  number  of 
his  friends,  the  German  Jewish  scholars,  whose 
views  were  far  removed  from  his.  He  defied  his 
contemporaries,  as  he  attacked  the  masters  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  In  one  of  his  letters  he  goes  to  the 
length  of  asserting,  that  while  Jost  and  his  col- 
leagues were  engaged  in  what  they  believed  to  be 
the  useful  work  of  defending  Judaism  against  its 
enemies,  they  were  in  reality  doing  it  more  harm 
than  these  same  enemies.  The  latter  tended  to 

89 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

preserve  the  Jewish  people  as  a  nation  apart,  while 
the  rationalistic  criticism  of  the  former,  directed 
against  the  Jewish  religion,  burst  the  bonds  that 
hold  the  nation  together,  and  hasten  its  dissolution. 

"  When,  my  dear  German  scholars  ",  he  cries  out  vehemently, 
"  when  will  the  Lord  open  your  eyes  ?  How  long  will  you  fail 
to  understand  that,  carried  away  by  the  general  current,  you  are 
permitting  national  feeling  to  become  extinct  and  the  language  of 
our  ancestors  to  fall  into  desuetude,  and  are  thus  preparing  the 
way  for  the  triumphant  invasion  of  Atticism  ....  So  long  as 
you  do  not  teach  that  the  Good  is  not  that  which  is  visible  to  the 
eyes,  but  that  which  is  felt  within  the  heart,  and  that  the  pros- 
perity of  our  people  is  not  dependent  upon  civil  emancipation, 
but  upon  the  love  of  a  man  for  his  neighbor,  ....  their  hearts 
will  not  be  possessed  with  zeal  for  God."  1( 

Luzzatto  has  no  fondness  for  dry  dogmatism, 
nor  for  detailed  prohibitions  and  Rabbinic  contro- 
versies. He  is  too  modern  for  that,  too  much  of  a 
poet.  What  he  loves  is  the  poetry  of  religion. 
He  is  attracted  by  its  moral  elevation.  Like  Jehu- 
dah  Halevi,  the  sentimental  philosopher  whose  suc- 
cessor he  is,  Luzzatto  feels  and  thinks  in  the  pecul- 
iar fashion  that  distinguishes  the  intuitive  minds 
among  the  Jews.  He  loves  his  native  country,  and 
this  love  appears  clearly  in  his  writings,  yet,  at  the 

"Letters,  I,  No.  267,  p.  660. 

90 


THE  GALICIAN  SCHOOL 

same  time,  they  all,  whether  in  prose,  as  in  his 
Letters,  or  in  verse,  as  in  the  Kinnor  Nairn,  sound 
a  Zionistic  note. 

Luzzatto  became  the  founder  of  a  school. 
Writers  of  our  own  day,  like  Vittorio  Castiglioni, 
Eude  Lolli,  and  others,  draw  upon  the  works  of 
the  master  as  a  source,  and  they  acknowledge  it 
openly.  His  philological  and  linguistic  works,  the 
Bet  ha-Ozar  among  others,  have  inestimable  value, 
and  his  Letters,  published  by  Graber  in  five  vol- 
umes, the  edition  from  which  most  of  the  passages 
cited  have  been  taken,  abundantly  prove  his  influ- 
ence on  his  contemporaries. 

He  was  a  master  and  a  prophet,  a  gracious  and 
brilliant  exponent  of  the  Renascence  of  Hebrew 
literature,  which  had  been  inaugurated  by  one  of 
his  ancestors,  another  Luzzatto. 

A  century  of  efforts  and  uninterrupted  labor  had 
wrought  the  resurrection  of  the  Hebrew  language. 
After  it  had  been  transformed  into  a  modern 
tongue,  in  touch  with  all  departments  of  thought, 
the  sole  remaining  task  was  to  make  it  acceptable 
to  the  masses  of  the  orthodox  Jews,  and  use  it  as 
an  effective  instrument  of  social  and  religious  eman- 
cipation. This  task  became  easy  of  accomplish- 

91 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

ment  because  Luzzatto  knew  how  to  direct  the 
mind  of  his  contemporaries.  He  found  the  key  to 
the  heart  of  the  masses. 

A  message  in  verse  addressed  to  him  by  a  young 
Lithuanian  poet,  in  1857,"  gives  an  eloquent  inter- 
pretation of  the  sentiment  felt  for  the  Italian 
maestro  by  the  devotees  of  a  budding  school  of 
literature : 

"  From  the  icy  north  country,  where  the  flowers  and  the  sun 
endure  but  a  few  short  moons,  these  halting  lines  speed  with  their 
greeting  away  from  the  hoar  frost,  to  the  eloquent  sage  in  the 
southland,  enthroned  among  the  wise  and  extolled  by  the  pious — 
to  the  gentle  guide  whose  heart  burns,  like  the  sun  of  his  own 
fair  land,  with  love  for  the  people  whence  he  was  hewn,  and 
for  the  tongue  of  the  Jews." 

The  "  icy  north  country "  was  Lithuania,  in 
which  the  literary  movement  had  just  effected  a 
triumphal  entry,  bringing  with  it  the  light  of  sci- 
ence, and  the  young  poet  was  Judah  Leon  Gordon, 
destined  to  become  the  greatest  Jewish  poet  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

Here  we  arrive  at  the  end  of  the  first  part  of  our 
essay,  devoted  in  particular  to  Hebrew  literature 
in  Western  Europe.  For  its  future  we  must  look 
to  the  East. 

"Poems,  by  J.  L.  Gordon,  St.  Petersburg,  1884,  I,  p.  125. 
92 


CHAPTER  IV 

IN  LITHUANIA 

HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

We  are  in  the  Jewish  country,  perhaps  the  only 
Jewish  country  in  the  world.1 

The  last  to  participate  in  the  intellectual  move- 
ment of  European  Judaism,  the  Lithuanian  Jews 
start  into  view,  in  the  second  half  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  as  a  peculiar  social  organism,  clearly 
marked  as  such  from  its  first  appearance.  The 
Rabbis  and  scholars  of  Lithuania  acquired  fame 
without  a  struggle,  and  its  Rabbinical  schools 
quickly  became  the  busy  centres  of  Talmudic 
research. 

The  destinies  of  the  Jewish  population  of  Lithu- 
ania, so  different  in  character  from  that  of  Poland 
proper,  were  ruled  absolutely  by  the  "  Synod  of 
the  Four  Countries  ",  with  Brest,  and  afterwards 
Wilna,  as  headquarters. 

1  See  Slouschz,  Massa  be-Lita  ("Journey  through  Lithuania"), 
Jerusalem,  1899. 

93 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

The  revolutions  and  upheavals  to  which  is  due 
the  social  and  religious  decadence  of  the  Polish 
Jews  during  the  eighteenth  century,  barely  touched 
this  forsaken  corner  of  the  earth.  Even  the  Cos- 
sack invasion  dealt  leniently  with  Lithuania,  if  the 
city  of  Wilna  is  excepted,  and  its  early  annexation 
by  Russia  saved  the  province  from  the  anarchy  and 
excitement  which  agitated  Poland  during  its  latter 
days. 

Left  to  their  fate,  neglected  by  the  authorities, 
and  forming  almost  the  whole  of  the  urban  popu- 
lation, the  Jews  of  Lithuania,  in  the  full  glare  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  were  in  all  essentials  an 
autonomous  community  with  Jewish  national  and 
theocratic  features.  The  Talmud  did  service  as 
their  civil  and  religious  code.  The  court  of  final 
appeal  was  a  Rabbinical  expert,  supported  by  the 
central  synod  and  the  local  Kahal,  and  exercising 
absolute  authority  over  the  moral  and  material 
interests  of  those  subordinated  to  his  jurisdiction. 
The  study  of  the  Law  was  carried  to  the  extreme 
of  devotion.  To  have  an  illiterate,  an  'Am  ha- 
Arez,  a  "  rustic  ",  in  one's  family,  was  considered 
a  pitiable  fate. 

Lithuania,  in  fine,  was  the  promised  land  of 
Rabbinism,  in  which  everything  favored  the  de- 
velopment of  a  national  Jewish  centre. 

94 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

The  natural  poverty  of  the  country,  its  barren 
soil,  dense  forests,  and  lack  of  populous  centres  of 
civilization,  all  tended  to  keep  the  Polish  lords 
aloof.  Poland  offered  them  a  more  inviting  so- 
journ. There  was  nothing  to  hinder  the  pious 
scholars  who  had  escaped  from  religious  persecu- 
tion in  the  countries  of  Europe,  especially  France 
and  Germany,  from  devoting  themselves,  with  all 
their  heart  and  energy,  to  the  study  of  the  Talmud 
and  the  ceremonials  of  their  religion.  No  infusion 
of  aliens  disturbed  them.  The  inhospitable  skies, 
the  absence  of  diversions,  little  troubled  the  refu- 
gees of  the  ghettOj-for  whom  the  Book  and  the 
dead  letter  were  all-sufficing.  They  were  not 
affected,  their  dignity  was  hardly  wounded,  by  the 
haughty  and  arbitrary  treatment  which  the  noble- 
man accorded  to  the  Jewish  "  factor  "  and  steward, 
and  by  the  many  humiliations  which  were  the  price 
paid  in  return  for  the  right  to  live,  for  without  the 
protection  of  the  lords  they  would  not  have  been 
able  to  hold  out  against  the  wretched  orthodox 
peasants.  In  morality  and  in  race,  however,  they 
considered  themselves  the  superior  of  the  "Poriz", 
the  Polish  nobleman,  with  his  extravagance  and 
folly. 

In  the  villages,  the  Jews  had  the  upper  hand, 

95 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

either  as  the  actual  owners  of  the  estates,  or  as  the 
overseers,  and  in  the  rude  cities  with  their  wooden 
buildings,  they  constituted  the  bulk  of  the  mer- 
chants, the  middlemen,  the  artisans,  even  the  work- 
men. They  all  led  a  sordid  life.  Mere  existence 
required  a  bitter  struggle.  Destitute  of  all  pleas- 
ures save  the  intimate  joys  of  family  life,  fostering 
no  ambition  except  such  as  was  connected  with  the 
study  of  the  Law,  disciplined  by  religious  authority, 
and  chastened  by  austere  and  rigid  principles  of 
morality,  the  Jewish  masses  had  a  peculiar  stamp 
impressed  upon  their  character  by  their  life  of 
subjection  and  misery.  The  mind  was  constantly 
kept  alert  by  the  dialectics  of  the  Talmud  and  the 
ingenious  efforts  needed  to  secure  one's  daily  bread. 
Even  the  Messianic  dreams,  inspired  by  a  belief  in 
Divine  justice  and  in  the  moral  and  religious  superi- 
ority of  Israel,  rather  than  by  a  mystic  conception 
of  life,  gave  but  a  faint  touch  of  beauty  and 
glamour  to  an  existence  so  mournful,  so  abjectly 
sad. 

Such  was,  and  such  in  part  is  still,  the  manner 
in  which  they  live — a  sober,  energetic,  melancholy, 
and  subtle  people,  the  mass  of  the  two  millions  of 
Jews  who  reside  in  Lithuania  and  White  Russia, 
and  send  forth,  to  the  great  capitals  of  Europe  and 

96 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

to  the  countries  beyond  seas,  a  stream  of  industri- 
ous immigrants,  resourceful  intellectually  and 
morally. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
thanks  to  the  peace  with  which  Lithuania  was 
blessed  after  its  subjection  by  Russia,  Rabbinical 
studies  reached  their  zenith.  The  high  schools,  the 
Yeshibot,  became  the  centres  of  attraction  for  the 
best  of  the  young  men.  The  number  of  writers 
and  scholars  increased  considerably,  and  the  He- 
brew printing  presses  were  kept  in  full  blast.  The 
ideal  of  every  Lithuanian  Jew  was,  if  not  to  marry 
his  daughter  to  a  scholar,  at  least  to  have  a  Bahur 
at  his  table,  a  student  of  the  Talmud,  a  prospective 
Rabbi.  "The  Torah  is  the  best  Sehorah" 
("merchandise"),  every  Lithuanian  mother 
croons  at  the  cradle  of  her  child. 

In  those  days  a  Rabbinic  authority  arose  like 
unto  whom  none  had  been  known  among  Jews  in 
the  later  centuries,  and  his  earnest,  independent 
genius,  as  well  as  his  moral  grandeur,  conferred 
a  consecration  upon  the  peculiar  spiritual  tenden- 
cies prevailing  in  Lithuanian  Judaism,  which 
he  personified  at  its  loftiest.  Elijah  of  Wilna, 
surnamed  "  the  Gaon  ",  "  his  Excellency  ",  suc- 
ceeded in  resisting  the  assaults  of  Hasidism,  which 

97 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

threatened  to  overwhelm,  if  not  the  learned  among 
them,  certainly  the  Lithuanian  masses.  To  parry 
the  dangers  of  mysticism,  which  exercised  so  power- 
ful an  attraction  that  the  dry'  and  subtle  casuistry 
of  Rabbinic  learning  could  not  damp  its  ardor,  he 
broke  with  scholastic  methods,  and  took  up  a  com- 
paratively rational  interpretation  of  texts  and  the 
laws.  He  went  to  the  extreme  of  asserting  the 
value  of  profane  and  practical  knowledge,  the  pur- 
suit of  which  could  not  but  bring  advantage  to  the 
study  of  the  Law — a  position  unheard  of  at  his 
day,  and  excusable  only  in  so  popular  a  man  as 
he  was.  He  himself  wrote  a  treatise  on  mathe- 
matics, and  philologic  research  was  a  favorite 
occupation  with  him.  His  pupils  followed  his  ex- 
ample; they  translated  several  scientific  works  into 
Hebrew,  and  founded  schools  and  centres  of  puri- 
tanism,  not  only  in  Lithuania,  but  also  as  far  away 
as  Palestine.  From  this  time  on  the  Yeshibah 
of  Wolosin  became  the  chief  seat  of  traditional 
Talmud  study  and  Rabbinic  rationalism. 

One  of  the  contemporaries  of  "  the  Gaon  "  was 
the  physician  Judah  Hurwitz,  of  Wilna,  who  op- 
posed Hasidism  in  his  pamphlet  Megillat  Sedarim 
("A  Book  of  Essays  "),  and  in  his  ethical  work 
'Ammude  Bet-Yehudah  ("The  Pillars  of  the 

98 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

House  of  Judah  ",  Prague,  1793),  he  pleads  the 
cause  of  internationalism  and  the  equality  of  men 
and  races ! 

It  would  be  rash  to  suppose  that  an  echo  of  the 
studies  of  the  Encyclopedists  had  reached  a  prov- 
ince double-barred  and  double-locked  by  politics 
and  religion.  The  European  languages  were  un- 
known in  the  Lithuanian  Jewries  of  the  Gaon's 
day,  and  his  pupils  sought  their  mental  pabulum 
in  the  writings  of  the  Jewish  scholars  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  Maimonides,  and  Albo,  and  their  compeers. 
The  result  was  an  odd,  whimsical  science.  False, 
antiquated  notions  and  theories  were  introduced 
through  the  medium  of  the  Hebrew,  and  they 
attained  no  slight  vogue.  At  the  end  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  a  certain  Elias,  a  Rabbi,  also  of 
Wilna,  undertook  to  gather  all  the  facts  of  science 
into  one  collection.  He  compiled  a  curious  ency- 
clopedia, the  Sefer  ha-Berit  ("  The  Book  of  the 
Covenant").  By  the  side  of  geographic  details 
of  the  most  fantastic  sort,  he  set  down  chemical 
discoveries  and  physical  laws  in  the  form  of 
magical  formulas.  This  book,  by  no  means  the 
only  one  of  its  kind,  was  reprinted  many  a  time, 
and  in  our  own  day  it  still  affords  delight  to 
orthodox  readers. 

99 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

A  long  time  passed  before  the  Russian  govern- 
ment took  note  of  the  intellectual  condition  of  its 
Jewish  subjects,  who,  in  turn,  asked  nothing  better 
than  to  be  left  undisturbed.  Nevertheless,  the 
treatment  accorded  them  by  the  government  was 
not  calculated  to  inspire  them  with  great  confidence 
in  it.  As  for  a  Russification  of  the  Jewish  masses, 
there  could  be  no  question  of  that,  at  a  time  when 
Russian  civilization  and  language  were  themselves 
in  an  embryonic  state. 

It  was  only  when  the  first  Alexander  came  to  the 
throne  that  the  reforms  planned  by  the  government 
began  to  make  an  impression  upon  the  distant 
ghetto.  A  special  commission  was  instituted  for  the 
purpose  of  studying  the  conditions  under  which  the 
Jews  were  living,  and  how  to  ameliorate  them  ma- 
terially and  intellectually.  The  first  close  contact 
between  Jews  and  Russians  took  place  in  the  little 
town  of  Shklow,  inhabited  almost  entirely  by  Jews. 
It  was  an  important  station  on  the  route  from  the 
capital  to  Western  Europe,  and  the  Jews  were 
afforded  an  opportunity  of  entering  into  relations 
with  men  of  mark,  both  Russians  and  strangers, 
who  passed  through  on  their  way  to  St.  Petersburg.3 

*As  early  as  1780  a  Hebrew  ode  was  published  on  the  occa- 
sion  of   Empress    Catherine    IPs    passing   through    Shklow.      A 

100 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

A  circle  of  literary  men  under  the  influence  of  the 
Meassefim  was  founded  there,  and  a  curious  lit- 
erary document  issued  thence  testifies  to  the 
hopes  aroused  by  the  reform  projects  planned  in 
the  reign  of  Alexander  I  for  the  improvement  of 
the  condition  of  the  Jews.  It  is  a  pamphlet  bear- 
ing the  title  Kol  Shaw' at  Bat-Yehudah,  or  Sinat 
ha-Dat  ("  The  Loud  Voice  of  the  Daughter  of 
Judah  ",  or  "  Religious  Hatred  "),  and  published, 
in  Shklow  in  1803,  in  Hebrew  and  Russian.  The 
author,  whose  name  was  Lob  Nevakhovich,*  pro- 
tests energetically,  in  j)ehalf  of  truth  and  humanity, 
against  the  contemptuous  treatment  accorded  the 
Jews. 

"  Ah,  ye  Christians,  men  of  the  newer  faith,  who  vaunt  your 
mercy  and  lovingkindness !  Exercise  your  mercy  upon  us,  turn 
your  loving  hearts  toward  us.  Why  do  you  scorn  the  Jew?  If 
he  forsakes  his  faith,  how  doth  it  profit  you?  Have  you  not 
heard  the  voice  of  Moses  Mendelssohn,  the  celebrated  writer  of 
our  people,  who  asked  your  co-religionists,  '  Of  what  avail  that 
you  should  continue  to  attach  men  lacking  faith  and  religion  to 

printing  press  was  set  up  there  about  1777,  and  it  was  at  Shklow 
that  a  litterateur,  N.  H.  Schulmann,  made  the  first  attempt  to 
found  a  weekly  political  journal  in  Hebrew,  announcing  it  in 
his  edition  of  the  Zeker  Rab. 

1  Grandfather  of  the  well-known  scholar  E.  Metchnikoff,  of  the 
Pasteur  Institute. 

101 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

yourselves '  ?  Can  you  not  understand  that  the  Jew,  too,  loves 
righteousness  and  justice  like  unto  yourselves?  Why  do  you 
constantly  scrutinize  the  man  to  find  the  Jew  in  him?  Seek  but 
the  man  in  the  Jew,  and  you  will  surely  find  him!" 

Like  so  many  that  have  followed,  this  first  ap- 
peal awakened  no  answering  echo  in  Russian 
hearts.  A  century  has  passed  since  then,  and  Rus- 
sia still  fails  to  find  the  man  in  the  unconverted 
Jew! 

The  hopes  aroused  in  the  Jews  of  Lithuania  by 
the  Napoleonic  wars  were  disappointed.  An  iron 
hand  held  them  down,  and  they  continued  to  vege- 
tate miserably  in  their  gloomy,  abandoned  corner. 

The  story  goes  that  when  Napoleon  at  the  head 
of  the  grande  armee  entered  Wilna,  the  exclama- 
tion was  forced  from  him,  "  Why,  this  is  the  Jeru- 
salem of  Lithuania !  "  Whether  the  story  is  true 
or  not,  it  is  a  fact  that  no  other  city  was  more  de- 
serving of  the  epithet.  The  residence  of  the  Gaon 
was  a  Jewish  metropolis  as  early  as  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  during  the  whole  of  the  nineteenth 
century  Wilna  was  the  Jewish  city  par  excellence, 
a  distinction  to  which  it  was  helped  by  several 
facts — by  the  systematic  and  intentional  elimina- 
tion of  the  Polish  element,  especially  since  the  in- 

102 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

surrection  of  1831,  by  the  prohibition  of  the  Pol- 
ish language,  the  closing  of  the  university,  and  the 
absence  of  a  Lithuanian  population.  The  de- 
throned capital  of  a  people  betrayed  by  its  nobility 
became,  after  its  abandonment  by  the  native  inhab- 
itants, the  centre  of  a  Jewry  independent  of  its  sur- 
roundings and  undisturbed  in  its  internal  develop- 
ment. Without  in  the  least  deviating  from  Rab- 
binic traditions,  its  constitutional  platform,  Jewish 
society  in  Wilna  was  gradually  penetrated  by  mod- 
ern ideas. 

The  humanism  of  tjje  German  Jews,  the  Haska- 
lah,  met  with  no  effective  resistance  in  a  compara- 
tively enlightened  world,  prepared  for  it  by  the 
school  of  the  Gaon.  The  Rabbinical  students 
themselves  were  the  first  representatives  of  human- 
ism in  Lithuania.  They  became  as  ambitious  in 
cultivating  the  Hebrew  language  and  studying  the 
secular  sciences  presented  in  it,  as  in  searching  out 
and  examining  the  Talmud.  Sprung  form  the  peo- 
ple, living  its  life  and  sharing  in  its  miseries,  sepa- 
rated from  Christian  society  by  a  barrier  of  pre- 
scriptions that  seemed  insuperable  to  them,  the 
earliest  of  the  Lithuanian  litterateurs  vitalized  their 
young  love  for  science  and  Hebrew  letters  with  the 
disinterested  devotion  that  characterizes  the  ideal- 
ists of  the  ghetto  in  general. 

103 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

A  literary  circle,  known  as  the  "  Berliners  ",  was 
formed  in  Wilna,  about  1830.  It  was  the  pattern 
after  which  a  large  number  were  modelled  a  little 
later,  all  of  them  pursuing  Hebrew  literature  with 
zeal  and  ardor. 

Two  writers  of  worth,  both  from  Wilna,  the 
one  a  poet,  the  other  a  prose  writer,  headed  the 
literary  procession  in  Lithuania. 

Abraham  Bar  Lebensohn  (Adam  ha-Kohen, 
1794-1880),  surnamed  the  "father  of  poetry", 
was  born  at  Wilna.  He  spent  a  sad  childhood. 
Left  motherless  early,  he  was  deprived  of  the  love 
and  the  care  that  are  the  only  consolations  known 
to  a  child  of  the  ghetto.  At  the  age  of  three,  he 
was  sent  to  the  Heder,  at  seven  he  was  a  student 
of  the  Talmud,  then  casuistry  occupied  his  mind, 
and,  finally,  the  Kabbalah.  The  last  had  but  feeble 
attractions  for  the  future  poet.  His  mental  mould 
was  determined  by  his  thorough  study  of  the  Bible 
and  Hebrew  grammar,  which  was  good  form  in 
Wilna  as  early  as  his  day,  and  the  works  of 
Wessely,  for  whom  he  always  professed  warm 
admiration,  had  a  decided  influence  upon  his  poetic 
bias. 

In  his  first  attempts  at  poetry,  Lebensohn  did 
not  depart  greatly  from  the  achievements  of  the 

104 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

many  Rabbinical  students  whose  favorite  pastime 
was  to  discuss  the  events  of  the  day  in  Hebrew 
verse.  An  elegy  to  the  memory  of  a  Rabbi,  an  ode 
celebrating  the  equivocal  glory  of  a  Polish  noble- 
man, and  similar  subjects,  were  the  natural  choice 
of  the  muse  of  the  era,  and  the  early  flights  of  our 
author  were  not  different.  There  was  nothing  in 
them  to  betray  the  future  poet  of  merit.  A  little 
later  he  took  up  the  study  of  German,  but  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  language  was  never  more  than  super- 
ficial. Haunted  by  the  fame  of  Schiller,  he  de- 
voted himself  to  poetry,  and  imitated  the  German 
poets,  or  tried  to  imitate  them,  for  he  never  suc- 
ceeded in  grasping  the  true  meaning  of  German 
poetry,  nor  in  understanding  erotic  literature.  To 
the  Rabbinical  student,  with  his  puritanic  spirit  and 
austere  manners,  it  was  a  collocation  of  poetic 
figures  of  speech  and  symbolic  expressions. 

His  life  differed  in  no  wise  from  that  of  the 
poor  Jews  of  the  ghetto.  Given  in  marriage  early 
by  his  father,  he  suddenly  found  himself  deep  in 
the  bitter  struggle  for  existence,  before  he  had 
known  the  transport  of  living,  or  youth,  or  the 
passions,  or  love,  or  the  inner  doubts  and  beliefs 
that  contend  with  one  another  in  the  heart  of  man. 
Feeling  for  nature,  aesthetic  delights,  were  strange 

105 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

provinces  to  this  son  of  the  ghetto.  A  conception 
of  art  that  is  destitute  of  a  moral  aim  would  have 
passed  his  understanding  and  his  puritanic  horizon. 
Too  much  of  a  free-thinker  to  follow  the  Rab- 
binical profession,  he  taught  Hebrew  to  children— 
an  unremunerative  occupation,  and  little  respected 
in  a  society  in  which  the  most  ignorant  are  not 
uninstructed,  and  in  which,  the  choice  of  vocations 
being  restricted,  the  unsuccessful  and  the  unskilled 
naturally  drop  into  teaching.  Ten  years  of  it, 
daily  from  eight  in  the  morning  until  nine  at  night, 
undermined  his  health.  He  fell  sick,  and  was 
compelled  to  give  up  his  hap-hazard  calling,  to  the 
great  gain  of  Hebrew  poetry.  He  went  into  the 
brokerage  business,  and  his  small  leisure  he  de- 
voted to  his  muse.  Harassed  by  petty,  sordid 
cares,  this  broker  was  yet  a  genuine  idealist,  though 
it  cannot  be  maintained  that  Lebensohn  was  of  the 
stuff  of  which  dreamers  are  made  and  great  poets. 
But  in  his  mind,  rationalistic  and  logical  to  the 
point  of  dryness,  there  was  a  secluded  recess  per- 
vaded with  melancholy  and  real  feeling.  The  He- 
brew language  he  cherished  with  ardent  and  ex- 
alted love.  Is  it  not  a  beautiful  language  and 
admirable?  Is  it  not  the  last  relic  saved  from  the 
shipwreck  in  which  all  the  national  possessions  of 

106 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

our  people  were  lost?  And  is  not  he,  Lebensohn 
himself,  the  heir  to  the  prophets,  the  poet  laureate 
and  high  priest  to  the  holy  language  ?  With  what 
pride  he  unveils  the  state  of  his  soul  to  us : 

"  I  am  seated  at  the  table  of  God,  and  with  my  hand  I  guide 
His  pen ;  and  my  hand  writes  the  language  holy  unto  Him,  the 
language  of*  His  Law,  the  language  of  His  people,  Selah !  O 
God,  arouse,  awake  my  spirit,  for  is  it  not  Thy  holy  language 
wherein  I  sing  unto  Thee  ?  " ' 

A  creature  of  his  surroundings,  and  a  disciple 
of  the  Rabbis,  as  he  was,  the  dialectics  of  a  logician 
were  in  him  joined  to  native  simplicity  of  spirit,  yet 
he  never  reached  the  point  of  understanding  the 
inner  world  of  struggles  and  passions  that  agitate 
the  individual  lives  of  men.  For  a  love  song  or  a 
poem  in  praise  of  nature,  he  thought  it  necessary 
only  to  copy  the  German  authors  and  link  together 
a  series  of  pointed  verses.  The  poem  "  David  and 
Bath-sheba  "  is  a  failure.  His  descriptions  of  na- 
ture are  dry  and  artificial.  He  was  never  able  to 
account  for  what  was  happening  under  his  eyes  and 
around  him.  Events  produced  an  effect  upon  him 
out  of  all  proportion  to  their  importance.  The 
military  and  civic  reforms  of  Nicholas  I,  he  cele- 

4  Shire  Sefat  Kodesh,  II,  I. 
8  107 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

brated  in  an  ode,  in  which  he  applied  the  enthusi- 
astic praise  "  Henceforth  Israel  will  see  only 
good !  "  to  regulations  that  were  wholly  prejudicial 
to  Jewish  interests.  When  some  Jewish  banker  or 
other  was  appointed  consul-general  in  the  Orient, 
he  welcomed  the  occurrence  in  dithyrambic  verses, 
dedicated  to  the  poor  fellow  in  the  name  of  the 
Jews  of  Lithuania  and  White  Russia.  But  when- 
ever the  heart  of  our  poet  beats  in  unison  with  the 
sentiments  of  his  Jewish  brethren,  whenever  he 
surrenders  himself  to  the  sadness,  the  peculiar 
melancholy,  that  pervades  Jewish  relations,  then 
he  attains  to  moral  heights  and  lyric  vigor  unsur- 
passed. In  his  three  volumes  of  poetry,  by  the  side 
of  numerous  worthless  pieces,  we  meet  many  gems 
of  style  and  thought.  The  distressed  cry  of  hu- 
manity against  the  wretchedness  under  which  it 
staggers,  the  sorrowful  protest  man  makes  against 
the  lack  of  compassion  he  encounters  in  his  fellow, 
his  obstinate  refusal  to  understand  the  implacable 
cruelty  of  nature  when  she  snatches  his  dearest 
from  him,  and  his  impotence  in  the  presence  of 
death — these  are  the  subjects  that  have  inspired 
Lebensohn's  best  efforts.  He  insists  constantly,  Is 
not  pity  the  daughter  of  heaven  ?  Do  we  not  find 
her  among  beasts  even,  and  among  reptiles  ?  Man 

108 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

alone  is  a  stranger  to  her,  and  he  makes  himself  the 
tyrant  of  his  neighbor. 

But  it  is  not  man  alone  who  refuses  to  know 
this  daughter  of  heaven,  Nature  denies  pity,  too, 
and  shows  herself  relentless : 

"  O  world !  House  of  mourning,  valley  of  weeping !  Thy 
rivers  are  tears,  and  thy  soil  ashes.  Upon  thy  surface  thou  bear- 
est  men  that  mourn,  and  in  thy  bowels  the  corpses  of  the  dead. 
....  From  out  of  the  mountains  covered  with  snow  and  ice 
comes  forth  a  chariot  with  none  to  guide.  Within  sits  man  and 
the  wife  of  his  bosom,  beautiful  as  a  flower,  and  at  their  knees 
play  sweet  children.  Alas !  a  caravan  of  the  dead  simulating 
life!  They  journey  on,  and  they  go  astray,  and  perish  on  the 
icy  fields." 

Distress  round  about,  and  all  hopes  collapsed, 
death  hovers  apart,  yet  near,  remorseless,  threaten- 
ing, and  in  the  end  victorious. 

In  another  poem,  entitled  "  The  Weeping 
Woman  ",  his  subject  is  pity  again.  He  cries  out: 

"  Thy  enemy  [cruelty]  is  stronger  than  thou.  If  thou  art  a 
burning  fire,  she  is  a  current  of  icy  water !  .  .  .  .  Alas  for  thee, 
O  pity!  Where  is  he  that  will  have  pity  upon  thee?" 

With  a  few  vigorous  strokes,  the  Hebrew  poet 
describes  the  nothingness  of  man  in  the  face  of  the 
vast  world.  The  lot  of  the  Hamlets  and  of  the 
Renes  is  more  enviable  than  that  of  the  "Mourner" 

109 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

of  the  ghetto.  They  at  least  taste  of  life  before 
becoming  a  prey  to  melancholy  and  delivering 
themselves  up  to  pessimism.  They  know  the 
charms  of  living  and  its  vexations.  The  disap- 
pointed son  of  the  ghetto  lays  no  stress  on  gratifica- 
tions and  pleasures.  In  the  name  of  the  supreme 
moral  law  he  sets  himself  up  for  a  pessimistic 
philosopher. 

"  Our  life  is  a  breath,  light  as  a  floating  bark.  The  grave  is 
at  the  very  threshold  of  life,  it  awaits  us  not  far  from  the  womb 
of  our  mother 

"  Since  the  beginnings  of  the  earth,  we  have  been  here,  and 
she  changes  us  like  the  grass  of  her  soil.  She  stands  firm,  un- 
shaken. We  alone  are  changeable,  and  help  there  is  none  for  us, 
no  refuge,  nor  may  we  decline  to  come  hither.  Like  an  angler 
of  fish,  the  world  brings  us  up  on  a  hook.  Before  it  has  finished 
devouring  one  generation,  the  next  is  ready  for  its  fate.  One  is 
swallowed  up,  the  other  snatched  away.  Whence  cometh  our 
help?" 

To  this  general  destruction,  this  wildness  of  the 
elements,  which  the  "  Mourner  "  fails  to  compre- 
hend, permeated  as  he  is  with  belief  in  Divine 
justice,  is  superadded  the  malice  of  man. 

"  And  thou  also,  thou  becomest  a  scourge  unto  thy  brother ! 
The  heavenly  host  is  joined  by  thy  fellow-man.  From  the  wrath 
of  man,  O  man,  thou  wilt  never  escape.  His  jealousy  of  thee 
will  last  for  aye,  until  thou  art  no  more !  " 

110 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

And  with  all  this,  does  life  offer  aught  substan- 
tial, aught  that  is  lasting? 

"  Where  are  they,  the  forgotten  generations  ?  Their  very  name 
and  memory  have  disappeared.  And  in  the  generation  to  come, 
we,  too,  shall  be  forgotten.  And  who  escapes  his  lot?  Not  a 
single  one  of  us  all.  None  is  secure  from  death.  Wealth,  wis- 
dom, strength,  beauty,  all  are  nothing,  nothing " 

In  a  burst  of  revolt,  our  poet  exclaims: 

"  If  I  knew  that  my  voice  with  its  reverberations  sufficed  to 
destroy  the  earth  and  the  fulness  thereof,  and  all  the  hosts  of 
heaven,  I  would  cry  with  a  thundering  noise :  Cease !  Myself 
I  would  return  to  nothing'with  the  rest  of  mankind.  Know  not 
the  living  that  the  grave  will  swallow  them  up  after  a  life  of 
sadness  and  cruel  misery?  See  they  not  that  the  whole  of  human 
life  is  like  the  flash  that  goes  before  the  fatal  thunderbolt?" 

The  same  train  of  thought  is  not  met  with  again 
until  we  come  down  to  our  own  time,  and  Maupas- 
sant himself  does  not  present  it  with  greater  vigor 
in  Sur  I'eau. 

And  the  end  of  the  matter  is  that  "  man  has 
nothing  but  the  consciousness  of  sorrow;  he  is 
naked  and  starved,  feeble  and  without  energy.  His 
soul  desires  all  that  he  has  not,  and  so  he  longs  and 
languishes  day  and  night." 

The  uncertainty  caused  by  the  certainty  of  death, 
the  terror  inspired  by  the  fatal  end,  the  aching 

ill 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

regrets  over  the  parting  with  dear  ones,  these  feel- 
ings, which  possess  even  the  devoutest  Jew,  are 
expressed  in  one  of  Lebensohn's  most  beautiful 
poems,  "  The  Death  Agony ",  and  in  "  Knowl- 
edge and  Death  "  the  skepticism  of  the  Maskil 
prevails  over  the  optimism  of  the  Jew. 

Sometimes  he  permits  himself  to  sing  of  the 
misery  of  his  people  as  such.  In  "  The  Wail  of 
the  Daughter  of  Judah  "  (Naakat  Bat-Yehudah] , 
it  would  not  be  too  much  to  say  that  there  is  an 
echo  of  the  best  of  the  Psalms.  The  weakest  of 
his  verses  are,  nevertheless,  those  in  which  he  ex- 
presses longing  for  Jerusalem. 

A  great  misfortune  befell  Lebensohn.  The  pre- 
mature death  of  his  son,  the  young  poet  Micah 
Joseph,  the  centre  of  many  and  legitimate  hopes, 
extorted  cries  of  distress  and  despair  from  him. 

"  Who,  alas !  hath  driven  my  bird  from  my  nest  ?  Who  is  it 
that  hath  banished  my  lyre  from  my  abode?  Who  hath  shat- 
tered my  heart,  and  brought  me  lamentation?  ....  Who 
hath  with  one  blow  blasted  my  hopes  ?  " 

There  is  enough  in  his  writings  to  make  the 
fortune  of  a  great  poet,  in  spite  of  their  ballast  of 
mediocre  and  tiresome  verses,  which  the  reader 
should  disregard  as  he  goes  along.  Between  him 

112 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

and  his  contemporary,  the  haughty  recluse  Alfred 
de  Vigny,  there  is  not  a  little  resemblance.  Need- 
less to  say  that  Lebensohn  had  no  acquaintance 
whatsoever  with  the  works  of  the  French  poet. 

Lebensohn's  poems,  published  at  Wilna,  in 
1852,  under  the  title  "  Poems  in  the  Holy  Lan- 
guage "  (Shire  Sefat  Kodesh],  were  greeted  with 
enthusiasm.  The  author  was  hailed  as  the  "  father 
of  poetry  ".  Besides,  he  published  several  works 
treating  of  grammar  and  exegesis. 

When  the  celebrated  philanthropist  Montefiore 
went  to  Russia,  in  18^48,  to  induce  the  Czar's  gov- 
ernment to  ameliorate  the  civil  condition  of  the 
Jews  and  grant  reforms  in  the  conduct  of  the 
schools,  Lebensohn  ranged  himself  publicly  on  the 
side  of  the  reformers.  According  to  him,  the 
degradation  of  the  Jews  was  due  to  three  main 
causes : 

1.  Absence   of   Haskalah,    that   is,    a   rational 
education,    founded  upon   instruction   in   the   lan- 
guage of  the  land,  the  ordinary  branches  of  knowl- 
edge, and  a  handicraft. 

2.  The  ignorance  of  the  Rabbis  and  preachers 
on  all  subjects  outside  of  religion. 

3.  Indulgence  in  luxuries,  especially  of  the  table 
and  of  dress. 

113 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

If  the  first  two  causes  are  more  or  less  just,  the 
third  displays  a  ludicrously  nai've  conception  of  life. 
Lebensohn  was  speaking  of  a  famished  people,  the 
majority  of  whom  ate  meat  only  once  a  week,  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  he  reproaches  them  with  gastro- 
nomic excesses  and  extravagance  in  dress.  We 
shall  see  that  his  simple  outlook  was  shared  by 
most  of  the  Russian  Maskilim. 

In  1867,  at  the  time  when  the  struggle  for  the 
emancipation  of  the  Jews  and  internal  reforms  in 
general  was  at  its  highest  point,  Lebensohn  pub- 
lished his  drama  "  Truth  and  Faith  "  (Emet  we- 
Emunah,  Wilna),  which  he  had  written  all  of 
twenty  years  earlier.  It  is  a  purely  didactic  work, 
blameless  of  any  trace  of  poetic  ardor.  It  must  be 
conceded  that  the  style  is  clear  and  fluent,  and  the 
ethical  problem  is  stated  with  precision.  But  it 
lacks  every  attempt  at  analysis  of  character,  and 
is  destitute  of  all  psychologic  motivation.  These 
being  of  the  very  essence  of  dramatic  composition, 
his  drama  reduces  itself  to  a  moral  treatise,  weari- 
some at  once  and  worthless.  The  plan  is  simple 
enough.  Sheker  (Falsehood)  seeks  to  seduce  and 
win  over  Hamon  (the  Crowd).  He  offers  to  give 
him  his  daughter  Emunah  (Faith)  in  marriage, 
but  she  is  wooed  by  two  lovers,  Emet  (Truth)  and 
Sekel  (Reason). 

114 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

The  influence  of  Moses  Hayyim  Luzzatto  is 
direct  and  manifest.  Like  the  older  author,  Leben- 
sohn,  skeptic  though  he  is,  does  not  go  to  the 
length  of  casting  doubt  upon  faith.  He  rises  up 
against  falsehood,  hypocrisy,  and  mock  piety,  the 
piety  that  persecutes  others,  and  steeps  its  votaries 
in  ignorance.  "  Pure  reason  is  not  opposed  to  a 
pure  religion  ",  was  the  device  adopted  by  the 
Wilna  school. 

Belief  in  God  being  set  aside  as  a  basic  principle, 
the  reason  invoked  by  the  dramatist  is  positive 
reason,  the  reason  oPscience,  of  justice,  of  rational 
logic.  In  verbose  monologues,  he  combats  the 
superstitions  and  fanaticism  of  the  orthodox.  The 
whole  force  of  the  Maskil's  hatred  against  obscu- 
rantism is  expressed  through  the  character  named 
Zibeon,  Jewish  hypocrite  and  chief  adjutant  in  the 
camp  of  Sheker  (Falsehood).  This  Jewish  Tar- 
tufe  is  very  different  in  his  complexity  from  the 
character  created  by  Moliere.  Zibeon  is  a  wonder- 
working Rabbi,  a  subtle  sophist,  a  crafty  dialec- 
tician. The  waves  of  the  Talmud,  the  casuistry  of 
more  than  a  millennium  of  scholasticism,  have  left 
their  traces  in  his  mind  and  personality.  In  his 
hatred  of  the  adversaries  of  the  Haskalah,  Leben- 
sohn  depicts  him,  besides,  as  a  hypocrite,  a  lover 

115 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

of  the  good  things  of  this  world,  and  given  to 
lewdness,  which  are  not  the  usual  traits  of  these 
Rabbis.  The  alleged  Tartufe  of  the  ghetto  can- 
not be  called  a  hypocrite.  He  is  a  believer,  and 
hence  sincere.  What  leads  him  to  commit  the 
worst  excesses,  is  his  fanaticism,  his  blind  piety. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  dramatist  is  full  of  admi- 
ration for  Sekel  (Reason),  Hokmah  (Knowl- 
edge), Emet  (Truth),  and  even  Emunah  (Faith). 

On  the  background  of  the  prosiness  of  this  work 
by  Lebensohn,  there  stands  out  one  passage  of  re- 
markable beauty,  the  prayer  of  Sekel  beseeching 
God  to  liberate  Emet.  The  triumph  of  Truth 
closes  the  drama. 

One  characteristic  feature  should  be  pointed  out : 
Neither  Regesh  (Sentiment),  a  prominent  Jewish 
quality,  nor  Taawah  (Passion),  appears  in  this 
gallery  of  allegorical  characters  personifying  the 
moral  attributes.  For  Lebensohn,  as  for  the  whole 
school  of  the  humanists  of  his  time,  the  only  thing 
that  mattered  was  reason,  and  reason  had  to  be 
shown  all-sufficing  to  ensure  the  triumph  of  truth. 

In  its  day  Lebensohn's  drama  excited  the  wrath 
of  the  orthodox.  A  Rabbi  with  literary  preten- 
sions, Malbim  (Mei'r  Lob  ben  Jehiel  Michael), 
considered  it  his  duty  to  intervene,  and  to  the  accu- 

116 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

sations  launched  by  Lebensohn  he  replied  in  an- 
other drama,  called  Mashal  u-Melizah  ("Allegory 
and  Interpretation"),  wherein  he  undertakes  the 
defense  of  the  orthodox  against  the  charges  of  ill- 
disposed  Maskilim. 

If  Abraham  Bar  Lebensohn  is  considered  the 
father  of  poetry,  his  no  less  celebrated  contem- 
porary and  compatriot,  Mordecai  Aaron  Ginz- 
burg,  has  an  equally  good  claim  to  be  called  the 
foremost  master  of  modern  Hebrew  prose.  Ginz- 
burg  is  the  creator  of  a  realistic  Hebrew  prose 
style,  though  he  was  permeated  to  the  end  with  the 
style  and  the  spirit  of  the  Bible.  Whenever  the 
Biblical  style  can  render  modern  thoughts  only  by 
torturing  and  twisting  it,  or  by  resorting  to  cumber- 
some circumlocutions,  Ginzburg  does  not  hesitate 
to  levy  contributions  from  Talmudic  literature 
and  even  the  modern  languages.  These  linguistic 
additions  made  by  him  are  always  excellent,  and 
in  no  way  prejudicial  to  the  elegance  of  Hebrew 
style.  For  it  should  be  reiterated,  in  season  and 
out  of  season,  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  believe  the 
neo-Hebrew  to  be  essentially  different  from  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Bible,  analogous  to  the  difference 
between  the  modern  and  the  classic  Greek.  The 

117 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

modern  Hebrew  is  nothing  more  than  an  adapta- 
tion of  the  ancient  Hebrew,  conformable  to  the 
modern  spirit  and  new  ideas.  The  extreme  in- 
novators, who  at  best  are  few  in  number,  cannot 
but  confirm  this  statement  of  the  case. 

Ginzburg  was  a  fertile  writer;  he  has  left  us 
fifteen  volumes,  and  more,  on  various  subjects. 
Endowed  with  good  common  sense,  and  equipped 
with  a  more  solid  modern  education  than  the  ma- 
jority of  the  writers  of  the  time,  he  exercised  a 
very  great  influence  upon  his  readers  and  upon  the 
development  of  Hebrew  literature.  His  "Abiezer", 
a  sort  of  autobiography,  very  realistic,  presents  a 
striking  picture  of  the  defective  education  and 
backward  ways  of  the  ghetto,  which  the  critic  de- 
nounces, with  remarkable  subtlety,  in  the  name  of 
civilization  and  progress.  Besides,  he  published 
two  volumes  on  the  Napoleonic  wars;  one  volume, 
under  the  title  Hamat  Damesek  (1840),  on  the 
ritual  murder  accusation  at  Damascus;  a  history 
of  Russia ;  a  translation  of  the  Alexandrian  Philo's 
account  of  his  mission  to  Rome ;  and  a  treatise  on 
style  (Debir).  He  was  very  successful  with  his 
works,  and  all  of  them  were  published  during  his 
lifetime,  at  Wilna,  Prague,  and  Leipsic,  and  have 
been  republished  since.  One  of  his  achievements 

118 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

is  that  he  helped  to  create  a  public  of  Hebrew 
readers.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  were  at  first  somewhat  repelled  by 
his  realism  and  by  his  terse  and  accurate  way  of 
writing.  Their  taste  was  not  sufficiently  refined  to 
appreciate  these  qualities,  and  their  primitive  sensi- 
bilities could  not  derive  pleasure  from  a  description 
of  things  as  they  actually  are.  This  is  the  difficulty 
which  the  second  generation  of  Lithuanian  writers 
took  account  of,  and  overcame,  when  they  intro- 
duced romanticism  into  Hebrew  literature. 
* 

Though  it  was  the  first,  Wilna  was  not  the  only 
centre  of  Hebrew  literature  in  Russia.  In  the 
south,  and  quite  independent  of  the  Wilna  school, 
literary  circles  were  formed  under  the  influence  of 
the  Galician  writers  and  workers. 

At  Odessa,  a  European  window  opening  on  the 
Empire  of  the  Czar,  we  see  the  first  enlightened 
Jewish  community  come  into  existence.  The  edu- 
cated flocked  thither  from  all  parts,  especially  from 
Galicia.  Simhah  Pinsker  and  B.  Stern  are  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Science  of  Judaism  in  Russia, 
and  the  contributions  of  the  Karaite  Abraham  Fir- 
kovich  in  the  same  field  were  most  valuable,  while 
Eichenbaum,  Gottlober,  and  others  distinguished 
themselves  as  poets  and  writers. 

119 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Isaac  Eichenbaum  (1796-1861)  was  a  graceful 
poet.  Besides  his  prose  writings  and  his  remark- 
able treatise  on  the  game  of  chess,  we  have  a  col- 
lection in  verse  by  him,  entitled  Kol  Zimrah  ("The 
Voice  of  Song",  Leipsic,  1836).  His  sweetness 
and  tenderness,  his  elegant  and  clear  style,  often 
recall  Heine.  The  following  quotation  is  from  his 
poem  "  The  Four  Seasons  ". 

"  Winter  has  passed,  the  cold  has  fled,  the  ice  melts  under  the 
fiery  darts  of  the  sun.  A  stream  of  melted  snow  sends  its  limpid 
waters  flowing  down  the  declivity  of  the  rock.  My  beloved 
alone  is  unmoved,  and  all  the  fires  of  my  love  cannot  melt  her 
icy  heart. 

"  The  hills  are  clothed  with  festive  mirth,  the  face  of  the 
valleys  smiles  joyously.  The  cedar  beams,  the  vine  is  jubilant, 
and  the  pine  tree  finds  a  nest  in  the  recesses  of  the  jagged 
mountain.  But  in  me  sighs  increase,  they  bring  me  low — my 
friend  will  not  yet  hearken  unto  me. 

"  All  sings  that  lives  in  the  woodland.  The  beasts  of  the 
earth  rejoice,  and  in  the  branches  of  the  trees  the  winged  crea- 
tures warble,  each  to  his  mate.  My  well-beloved  alone  turns  her 
steps  away  from  me,  and  under  the  shadow  of  my  roof  I  am 
left  in  solitude. 

"  The  plants  spring  from  the  soil,  the  grass  glitters  in  the 
splendor  of  the  sun,  and  the  earth  is  covered  with  verdure. 
Upon  the  meadows,  the  lilies  and  the  roses  bloom.  Thus  my 
hopes  blossom,  too,  and  I  am  filled  with  joyous  expectation — my 
friend  will  come  back  and  in  her  arms  enfold  me." 

120 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

The  acknowledged  master  of  the  humanists  in 
southern  Russia  was  Isaac  Bar  Levinsohn,  of  Kre- 
menetz,  in  Wolhynia  (1788-1860).  His  proper 
place  is  in  a  history  of  the  emancipation  of  the 
Russian  Jews,  rather  than  in  a  history  of  literature. 
Levinsohn  was  born  in  the  country  of  Hasidism. 
A  happy  chance  carried  him  to  Brody  when  he 
was  very  young.  He  attached  himself  there  to  the 
humanist  circle,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
Galician  masters.  On  his  return  to  his  own  coun- 
try, he  was  actuated  by  the  desire  to  work  for  the 
emancipation  and  promote  the  culture  of  the  Rus- 
sian Jews. 

Like  Wessely,  Levinsohn  remained  on  strictly 
orthodox  ground  in  his  writings,  and  in  the  name 
of  traditional  religion  itself  he  attacks  superstition, 
and  urges  the  obligatory  study  of  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage, the  pursuit  of  the  various  branches  of 
knowledge,  and  the  learning  of  trades.  His  pro- 
found scholarship,  the  gentleness  and  sincerity  of 
his  writings,  earned  for  him  the  respect  of  even  the 
most  orthodox.  His  Bet-Yehudah  ("  The  House 
of  Judah  ")  and  Teudah  be-Yisrael  ("  Testimony 
in  Israel  ")  are  pleas  in  favor  of  modern  school- 
ing. In  "  Zerubbabel  "  he  treats  of  questions  of 
Hebrew  philology,  and  with  the  help  of  documents 

121 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

he  annihilates  the  legend  of  the  ritual  murder  in 
his  Efes-Dammim  ("No  Blood!").  Ahijah  ha- 
Shiloni  is  a  defense  of  Talmudic  Judaism  against 
its  Christian  detractors.  Besides,  Levinsohn  wrote 
a  number  of  other  things,  epigrams,  articles,  and 
essays.* 

The  contemporaries  of  Levinsohn  exaggerated 
the  importance  of  the  literary  part  of  his  work. 
Not  much  of  it,  outside  of  his  philologic  studies, 
deserves  to  be  called  literary,  and  even  they  often 
fall  below  the  mark  on  account  of  the  simplicity  of 
his  views,  and  especially  on  account  of  his  prolixity 
and  his  awkward  diction  and  style.  Also  the  direct 
influence  which  he  has  exerted  upon  Jews  is  less 
considerable  than  once  was  thought.  Upon  Hasid- 
ism  he  made  no  impression  whatsoever.  In  Lithu- 
ania, to  be  sure,  his  works  were  widely  read  by  the 
Jews,  but  in  that  home  of  the  Hebrew  language 
the  subject-matter  and  arguments  of  an  author  play 
but  little  part  in  giving  vogue  to  what  is  written 
in  the  Biblical  language. 

By  his  self-abnegation  and  his  wretched  fortunes, 
his  isolated  life  in  a  remote  town,  weak  in  body  yet 
working  for  the  elevation  of  his  co-religionists,  he 

*We  owe  a  new  edition  of  all  his  works  to  Nathansohn,  War- 
saw, 1880-1900. 

122 


HUMANISM  IN  RUSSIA 

won  the  admiration  of  his  contemporaries  without 
exception. 

The  fame  of  the  solitary  idealist  of  Kremenetz 
spread  until  it  reached  government  circles.  Levin- 
sohn  was  the  first  of  the  Jewish  humanists  who 
maintained  direct  relations  with  the  Russian  au- 
thorities. Czar  Nicholas  I  gave  him  a  personal 
audience,  and  several  times  sought  his  advice  on 
problems  connected  with  the  endeavor  to  amelio- 
rate the  social  condition  of  the  Jews.  The  found- 
ing of  Jewish  elementary  schools,  the  opening  of 
two  Rabbinical  seminaries,  one  at  Wilna  and  one  at 
Zhitomir,  the  establishment  of  numerous  agricul- 
tural colonies,  the  improvements  effected  in  the  po- 
litical condition  of  the  Jews  and  in  the  censorship 
of  Hebrew  books — all  these  progressive  measures 
are  in  great  part,  if  not  entirely,  due  to  the  influence 
of  Levinsohn.  And  the  educated  men  of  his  time 
paid  the  tribute  of  veneration  to  a  compeer  who 
enjoyed  the  esteem  of  the  governing  classes  to  so 
high  a  degree. 


123 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

ABRAHAM  MAPU 

The  political  reaction  following  upon  the  Polish 
revolution  of  1831  made  itself  felt  in  Lithuania 
particularly.  The  hand  of  the  government  weighed 
heavy  upon  the  people  of  this  province.  The 
University  of  Wilna  was  closed,  and  all  traces  of 
civilization  were  effaced. 

From  the  arbitrariness  of  the  Polish  nobles,  the 
Jews  were  rescued  only  to  fall  into  the  tender 
mercies  of  unscrupulous  officials.  As  it  was,  since 
1823  the  most  rigorous  measures  had  been  devised 
against  them.  They  were  exposed  to  expulsions 
from  the  villages,  and  their  commercial  and  other 
privileges  had  been  considerably  curtailed.  Be- 
sides, a  new  scourge  was  inflicted  upon  them,  com- 
pulsory service  in  the  army,  unknown  until  then,  a 
frightful  service,  with  an  active  period  of  twenty- 
five  years.  Children  were  torn  from  their  families 
and  their  faith,  and  the  whole  life  of  a  man  was 

124 


swallowed  up.  They  struggled  against  this  new 
incubus  with  all  the  weapons  at  the  disposal  of  a 
feeble  population.  Bribery,  premature  marriage, 
wholesale  evasion,  voluntary  or  forced  substitu- 
tion, were  the  means  employed  by  the  well-to-do 
to  save  their  progeny  from  military  service. 

In  order  to  ensure  the  regular  recruiting  of  sol- 
diers among  the  Jews,  Czar  Nicholas  I,  while 
abolishing  the  central  synod  organization,  main- 
tained the  local  Kahal  everywhere,  and  made  it 
responsible  for  the  military  conscription.  The 
wealthy,  the  learned,  the  heads  of  the  communities 
profited  greatly  by  this  official  recognition  of  the 
Kahal.  It  enabled  them  to  free  the  members  of 
their  families  from  enrollment  in  the  army.  In 
their  hands,  it  became  an  instrument  for  the  oppres- 
sion and  exploitation  of  the  poor.  "  The  devil 
take  the  hindmost!  "  expresses  the  state  of  mind  of 
the  Russian  Jews  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  during  the  whole  of  the  period  called  the 
Behalah  ("Terror"). 

The  reforms  projected  by  Alexander  I  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Jews,  the  hopes  cherished  by  the 
Lithuanian  humanists,  proved  abortive.  Reaction- 
ary tendencies  made  themselves  felt  everywhere 
cruelly,  but  chiefly  they  injured  the  Jews,  forever 

125 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

persecuted,  downtrodden,  and  humiliated.  The 
profound  pessimism  of  Lebensohn's  poetry  is  elo- 
quent testimony  to  the  feelings  of  educated  Jews. 
And  yet,  these  votaries  of  knowledge,  of  civiliza- 
tion, the  daughter  of  heaven,  clung  to  their  illu- 
sions. They  continued  to  insist  that  only  thorough- 
going reforms  can  solve  the  Jewish  question.  The 
people  at  large  did  not  side  with  them,  and  even 
among  the  educated  their  view  of  the  situation  was 
not  shared  by  the  younger  men.  In  this  moral  dis- 
order, the  masses  of  the  people  permitted  them- 
selves to  be  carried  along  unresistingly  by  the  cur- 
rent of  Hasidic  views,  which  had  long  been  waiting 
to  capture  the  last  fortress  of  rational  Judaism. 
The  Rabbis  stood  by  alarmed,  unable  to  do  any- 
thing to"  arrest  the  growing  encroachments  of  the 
mystic  movement.  Yet  there  was  an  adversary 
ready  and  equipped.  In  the  young  neo-^iebrew 
literature,  mysticism  found  a  foeman  far  more 
powerful  than  ever  logic  and  rationalism  had  been. 
The  Hebrew  language  was  cultivated  with  zeal 
by  the  educated  classes,  and  even  by  the  young 
Rabbis.  It  was  the  epoch  of  the  Mellzah,  and  the 
Melizah  was  to  supplement  the  jejuneness  of  Rab- 
binism  and  oppose  the  Hasidim  with  good  results. 
Hebrew  was  in  the  ascendant,  not  only  for  poetry, 

126 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

but  for  general  purposes  as  well.  In  the  sunshine 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  it  became  the  language 
of  commerce,  of  jurisprudence,  of  friendly  inter- 
course. Folklore  itself,  in  the  very  teeth  of  the 
now  despised  jargon,  knew  no  other  tongue.  The 
period  produced  a  large  quantity  of  popular  poems, 
which  to  this  day  are  sung  by  the  Jews  of  Lithu- 
ania. The  dominant  note  is  the  national  plaint  of 
the  Jewish  people,  its  dreams,  and  its  Messianic 
hopes.  They  are  essentially  Zionistic. 

In  polished  and  tender  Hebrew,  with  lofty  ex- 
pressions and  despairful  cries  worthy  of  Byron,  a 
poet  of  the  people  mourns  the  misfortunes  of  Zion : 

"Zion,  Zion,  city  of  our  God!  How  awful  is  thy  breach! 
Who  will  heal  thee!  ....  Every  nation,  every  country,  sees  its 
splendor  grow  from  day  to  day.  Thou  alone  and  thy  people, 
ye  fall  from  depth  to  awful  depth 

"  Holy  land,  O  Zion  and  Jerusalem !  How  dare  the  stranger 
trample  on  thy  soil  with  haughty  foot?  How,  O  Heaven,  can 
the  son  of  the  stranger  stand  upon  the  spot  whence  Thy  command 
banishes  him?" 

But  hope  is  not  entirely  blasted: 

"  In  the  name  of  all  thy  people,  in  all  their  dwelling-places, 
have  we  sworn  unto  thee,  O  Zion,  with  scorching  tears,  that 
thou  shalt  always  rest  upon  our  hearts  as  a  seal.  Not  by  night 
and  not  by  day  shalt  thou  be  forgotten  by  us." 

127 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Another  popular  poem,  anonymous  like  the  last, 
entitled  "  The  Rose  ",  is  still  more  dolorous  and 
despairful  in  tone.  Stepped  upon  by  every  passer- 
by, the  rose  supplicates  incessantly,  "  O  man,  have 
pity  on  me,  restore  me  to  my  home !  " 

Besides  these  and  others  with  the  same  under- 
lying ideas,  the  lyrics  of  Lebensohn  and  "  The 
Mourning  Dove  "  by  Letteris  constituted  the  rep- 
ertory of  the  people.  But  soon  romanticism  on 
the  part  of  the  litterateurs  began  to  respond  to  the 
romanticism  of  the  masses,  asserting  itself  as  a 
national  Jewish  need. 

A  translation  of  Les  Mysteres  de  Parts,  pub- 
lished in  Wilna  in  1847-8,  introduced  the  romantic 
movement  among  the  Jews,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  novel  into  the  Hebrew  language.  This  trans- 
lation, or,  rather,  adaptation,  of  Sue's  work,  exe- 
cuted in  a  stilted  Biblical  style,  won  great  renown 
for  its  young  author,  Kalman  Schulman.  of  Wilna 
(1826-1900) 

From  the  literary  point  of  view,  Schulman's 
achievement  is  interesting  because  of  the  kind  of 
literature  it  was  the  first  to  offer  to  readers  of  He- 
brew— pastime  literature,  fiction  in  place  of  the 
serious  writings  of  the  humanists.  The  enormous 
success  obtained  by  this  first  work  of  the  translator, 

128 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

the  repeated  editions  which  it  underwent,  testify  to 
the  existence  of  a  public  that  craved  light  literature. 
Thenceforth,  romanticism  was  to  occupy  the  first 
place,  and  the  Melizah  style  was  appropriated  for 
the  purposes  of  fiction,  to  the  delight  of  the  friends 
of  the  Bible  language. 

In  spite  of  his  small  originality,  it  happened  that 
Kalman  Schulman  contributed  more  than  any  other 
writer  to  the  achievement  of  securing  a  place  for 
Hebrew  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  For  the 
length  of  a  half-century,  he  was  regarded  popularly 
as  the  master  of  Hebcew  style.  Romantic  and  con- 
servative in  religion,  enthusiastic  for  whatsoever 
the  Jewish  genius  produced,  na'i've  in  his  conception 
of  life,  he  let  his  activity  play  upon  all  the  fields  of 
literature.  He  published  a  History  of  the  World 
in  ten  volumes;  a  geography,  likewise  in  ten  vol- 
umes; four  volumes  of  biographical  and  literary 
essays  on  the  Jewish  writers  of  the  Middle  Ages; 
a  national  romance  dealing  with  the  time  of  Bar 
Kokbah  (a  composite  made  up  of  a  number  of 
translations) ;  and  curious  Biblical  and  Talmudic 
essays.1 

His  language  is  the  Hebrew  of  Isaiah.     The 

1  These  works,  first  published  at  Wilna,  have  been  republished 
again  and  again. 

129 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

artificialities  and  the  undue  emphasis  of  his  style, 
his  childlike  views,  his  romantic  sentimentality  in 
all  that  touches  Jews  and  Judaism,  which  appealed 
directly  to  the  hearts  of  the  simple,  ignorant 
readers  who  constituted  his  public,  explain  the  suc- 
cess of  this  writer,  well  merited  even  though  he 
lacked  originality.  His  books  were  spread  broad- 
cast, by  the  millions  of  copies,  and  they  fostered 
love  of  Hebrew,  of  science,  and  knowledge  in  gen- 
eral among  the  people.  By  this  token,  Schulman 
was  a  civilizing  agent  of  the  first  rank.  His  work 
is  the  portal  through  which  the  Maskil  had  to  pass, 
and  sometimes  passes  to  this  day,  on  the  path  of 
development  toward  modern  civilization. 

Schulman  became  the  head  of  a  school.  His 
poetic  and  inflated  style  long  imposed  itself  upon 
all  subjects,  and  hindered  the  natural  development 
of  Hebrew  prose,  inaugurated  by  Mordecai  A. 
Ginzburg. 

More  creative  writers  were  not  long  in  making 
their  appearance.  Among  the  poets  of  the  roman- 
tic school,  a  prominent  place  belongs  to  Micah 
Joseph  Lebensohn,  briefly  called  Mikal  (1828- 
1852),  the  son  of  Abraham  Bar  Lebensohn. 

Gentle  and  gracious  in  the  same  measure  in 
which  his  father  was  hard  and  unyielding,  Micah 

130 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

Joseph  Lebensohn  was  the  only  writer  of  the  time 
to  enjoy  the  advantage  of  a  complete  modern  edu- 
cation, and  the  only  one  of  his  generation  to  escape 
cruel  want  and  the  struggle  for  personal  freedom. 
He  knew  German  literature  thoroughly,  and  he 
had  taken  a  course  in  philosophy  at  Berlin,  under 
Schelling.  Along  with  these  attainments,  he  was 
master  of  Hebrew  as  a  living  language.  It  was 
the  vehicle  for  his  most  intimate  thoughts  and  the 
subtlest  shades  of  feeling. 

His  rich  poetic  imagination,  his  harmonious 
style,  warm  figures  or  speech,  consummate  lyric 
quality,  unmarred  by  the  blatant,  crude  exaggera- 
tions of  his  predecessors,  constitute  Mikal  the  first 
artist  of  his  day  in  Hebrew  poetry. 

He  made  his  appearance  in  the  world  of  letters, 
in  1851,  with  a  translation  of  Schiller's  "  Destruc- 
tion of  Troy",  finished  in  style  and  in  poetic  polish. 
He  was  the  first  to  apply  the  rules  of  modern  pros- 
ody strictly  to  Hebrew  poetry.  His  collection  of 
poems,  Shire  Bat-Z'iyyon  ("  The  Songs  of  the 
Daughter  of  Zion"),*  is  a  masterpiece.  It  con- 
tains six  historical  poems,  admirable  in  thought, 
form,  and  inspiration.  In  "  Solomon  and  Kohe- 

*Wilna,    1852.     German   translation   by  J.   Steinberg,  Wilna, 
1859. 

131 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

let  ",  his  most  ambitious  poem,  he  brings  the  youth 
of  King  Solomon  before  our  eyes.  It  was  the  first 
time  the  love  of  Solomon  for  the  Shulammite  was 
celebrated — a  sublime,  exalted  love  sung  in  marvel- 
lous fashion.  The  joy  of  life  trembles  in  all  the 
fibres  of  the  poet's  heart  ....  Then  the  old  age 
of  Ecclesiastes  is  contrasted  strikingly  with  the 
youth  of  Solomon — the  king  disillusioned,  skep- 
tical, convinced  of  the  vanity  of  love,  beauty,  and 
knowledge.  All  is  dross,  vanity  of  vanities !  And 
the  young  romantic  poet  ends  his  work  with  the 
conclusion  that  wisdom  cannot  exist  without  faith 
— that  faith  alone  is  capable  of  giving  man  su- 
preme satisfaction. 

"  Jael  and  Sisera  ",  a  noble  production,  treats  of 
the  silent  struggle,  in  the  heart  of  the  valiant 
woman  extolled  by  Deborah,  between  the  duty  of 
hospitality  on  the  one  side,  and  love  of  country 
on  the  other.  The  latter  triumphs  in  the  end: 

"  With  this  people  I  dwell,  and  in  its  land  I  am  sheltered ! 
Should  I  not  desire  its  prosperity  and  its  happiness  ? " 

"  Moses  on  Mount  Abarim  "  is  full  of  admira- 
tion for  the  great  legislator.  The  poet  says  re- 
garding his  death : 

"The  light  of  the  world  is  obscured  and  dun, 
Of  what  avail  the  light  of  the  sun?  " 
132 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

His  elegy  on  Jehudah  Halevi  is  instinct  with  th« 
pathos  of  patriotic  love  for  the  Holy  Land : 

"  That  land,  where  every  stone  is  an  altar  to  the  living  God, 
and  every  rock  a  seat  for  a  prophet  of  the  supreme  Lord  ". 

Or,  as  he  exclaims  in  another  poem,  "  Land  of 
the  muses,  perfection  of  beauty,  wherein  every 
stone  is  a  book,  every  rock  a  graven  tablet!  " 

Another  collection  of  poems  by  Mikal,  Kinnor 
Bat-Ziyyon  ("  The  Harp  of  the  Daughter  of 
Zion"),  published  at  Wilna,  posthumously,  con- 
tains, besides  a  numbef  of  pieces  translated  from 
the  German,  also  lyric  poems,  in  which  the  poet 
breathes  forth  his  soul  and  his  suffering.  He  loves 
life  passionately,  but  he  divines  that  he  will  not  be 
granted  the  opportunity  of  enjoying  it  long,  and, 
in  an  access  of  despair,  he  cries  out :  "  Accursed 
be  death,  accursed  also  life  !  "  His  nature  changes, 
his  muse  grows  sad,  and,  like  his  father,  he  dis- 
cerns only  injustice  and  misfortune  in  the  world. 
In  a  poem  addressed  to  "  The  Stars  ",  he  fairly 
storms  high  heaven  to  wrest  from  it  the  secret  of 
the  worlds: 

"  Answer  me,  I  pray,  answer  me,  ye  who  are  denizens  on  high ! 
O,  stop  the  march  of  the  eternal  laws  a  single  instant!  Alas, 
my  heart  is  full  of  disgust  over  this  earth.  Here  man  is  born 

133 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

unto  pain  and  misery  1  ....  Here  reigns  religious  Hatred!  On 
her  lips  she  bears  the  name  of  the  God  of  mercy,  and  in  her 
hands  the  blood-dripping  sword.  She  prays,  she  throws  herself 
upon  her  knees,  yet  without  cease,  and  in  the  name  of  God,  she 
slaughters  her  victims.  This  world,  when  the  Lord  created  it 
in  a  fit  of  anger,  He  cast  it  far  away  from  Him  in  wrath.  Then 
Death  threw  herself  upon  it,  scattering  terror  everywhere.  She 
holds  this  world  in  'her  talons.  Misery  also  precipitates  herself 
upon  it,  gnashing  her  teeth  in  beast-like  rage.  She  clutches  man 
like  a  beast  of  prey,  she  torments  him  without  reprieve  .  .  .  ." 

This  posthumous  collection  of  poems  contains 
also  love  poems  and  Zionist  lamentations,  all  bear- 
ing the  impress  of  the  deep  melancholy  and  the 
sadness  that  characterized  the  last  years  of  the 
poet's  short  life.  A  cruel  malady  carried  him  off 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  and  the  friends  of  He- 
brew poetry  were  left  mourning  in  despair. 

Romantic  fiction  in  Hebrew,  which  the  strait- 
laced  life  and  the  austerity  of  the  educated  had 
rendered  impossible  up  to  this  time,  now  made  its 
first  appearance  in  the  form  of  translations  of 
modern  romances.  They  were  received  with  ac- 
claim by  a  well-disposed  public  greedy  for  novel- 
ties. The  creators  of  original  romances  were  not 
long  in  coming.  The  first  master  in  the  depart- 
ment, the  father  of  Hebrew  romance,  was  Abra- 
ham Mapu  (1808-1867). 

134 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

Mapu  was  born  at  Slobodka,  a  suburb  of  Kowno, 
a  sad  town  inhabited  almost  entirely  by  Jews.  The 
whole  of  the  population  vegetates  there  amid  the 
most  deplorable  conditions,  economic  and  sanitary. 
The  father  of  Mapu  was  a  poor,  melancholy 
Melammed,  a  teacher  of  Hebrew  and  the  Talmud, 
simple  in  his  outlook  upon  life,  yet  not  without  a 
certain  degree  of  education.  He  loved  and  culti- 
vated knowledge  as  taught  by  the  Hebrew  masters 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  Mapu's  mother  was  gentle 
and  sweet.  With  resignation  and  fortitude  she 
endured  the  physical  suffering  that  hampered  her 
all  her  life.  His  brother  Mattathias,  a  Rabbinical 
student,  was  a  man  of  parts. 

In  brief,  it  was  misery  itself,  the  life  he  knew, 
but  the  misery  once  surmounted,  and  vain  desires 
eliminated,  it  was  a  life  that  tended  to  bind  closer 
the  ties  of  family  love.  Being  a  sickly  child,  Mapu 
did  not  begin  to  study  the  elementary  branches 
until  he  was  five  years  old,  an  advanced  age  among 
people  whose  children  were  usually  sent  to  the 
Heder  at  four,  to  spend  years  upon  years  there  that 
brought  no  joy  to  the  student  as  he  sat  all  day 
long  bent  over  the  great  folios  of  the  Talmud, 
except  the  joy  that  comes  from  success  in  study. 
Rational  instruction  in  the  Bible  and  in  Hebrew 

135 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

grammar,  scorned  by  the  Talmudic  dialecticians 
as  superficial  studies,  was  banished  from  the  Heder. 
Happily  for  the  future  writer,  his  father  taught 
him  the  Bible,  and  awakened  love  in  his  sensitive 
heart  for  the  Hebrew  language  and  for  the  glori- 
ous past  of  his  people.  At  the  same  time,  his  Tal- 
mudic education  went  on  admirably.  At  the  age 
of  twelve,  he  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  scholar, 
at  the  age  of  thirteen,  an  'Illtti,  a  "  phenomenon  ", 
and  from  that  time  on  he  was  at  liberty  to  devote 
himself  to  his  studies  at  his  own  free  will,  without 
submitting  himself  to  the  discipline  of  a  master. 

Like  all  young  Talmudists,  he  was  soon  sought 
after  as  a  desirable  son-in-law,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  his  father  affianced  him  to  the  daughter  of 
a  well-to-do  burgher.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he 
was  married.  Marriage,  however,  did  not  change 
his  life.  As  before,  he  pursued  his  studies,  while 
his  father-in-law  provided  for  his  wants.  But  soon 
his  studies  took  a  new  direction.  His  pensive 
mind,  stifled  by  Rabbinic  scholasticism,  turned  to 
the  Kabbalah.  Mystical  exaltation  more  and  more 
took  possession  of  him,  and  the  day  came  when  he 
all  but  declared  himself  a  follower  of  Hasidism. 
It  was  his  mother  who  saved  him.  He  yielded  to 
her  prayers,  and  was  held  back  from  committing 
a  perilous  act  of  heresy. 

136 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

These  internal  conflicts  between  feeling  and 
reason,  the  perplexities  with  which  his  spirit 
wrestled,  did  not  affect  our  author  to  an  excessive 
degree.  They  produced  no  radical  change  in  his 
personality.  All  his  life  Mapu  remained  the  hum- 
ble scholar  of  the  ghetto,  a  successor  of  the  Ebyo- 
nim,  of  the  psalmists  and  the  prophets.  Timorous, 
melancholy,  lacking  all  desire  for  the  things  con- 
nected with  practical  life,  often  degraded  by  their 
own  material  wretchedness  and  by  the  intellectual 
wretchedness  of  their  surroundings,  these  dreamers 
of  the  ghetto,  more  numerous  than  the  outsider 
knows,  hide  a  moral  exaltation  in  the  depths  of 
their  hearts,  a  supreme  idealism,  always  ready  to 
do  battle,  never  conquered.  In  their  persons  we 
are  offered  the  only  explanation  there  is  for  the 
activity  and  persistence  of  the  Messianic  people. 

Mapu  was  on  the  point  of  succumbing,  like  so 
many  others,  the  darkness  of  mysticism  was  about 
to  drop  like  a  pall  upon  his  mind,  when  something 
happened,  insignificant  in  itself,  but  important 
through  its  consequences,  and  he  was  snatched  out 
of  danger.  A  Latin  psalter  fell  into  his  hands  by 
chance;  it  gave  a  fresh  turn  to  his  studies,  and  his 
mind  took  its  bearings  anew. 

Was  it  curiosity,  or  was  it  desire  for  knowledge, 

137 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

that  impelled  him  to  decipher  the  sacred  text  in  an 
unknown  language  at  what  cost  soever?  It  is  cer- 
tain that  no  difficulty  affrighted  him.  Word  by 
word  he  translated  the  Latin  text  by  dint  of  com- 
paring it  with  the  Hebrew  original,  and  he  suc- 
ceeded in  acquiring  a  large  number  of  Latin  words. 
He  is  not  alone  in  this  achievement.  Solomon 
Maimon  learned  the  alphabet  of  the  German,  the 
language  in  which  he  later  wrote  his  best  philo- 
sophic essays,  from  the  German  names  of  the 
treatises  of  the  Talmud  prefixed  to  an  edition 
printed  in  Berlin.  And  many  other  such  cases 
among  the  educated  Jews  of  Lithuania  might  be 
cited. 

These  mental  gymnastics,  the  necessity  of  ren- 
dering account  to  himself  as  to  the  precise  value  of 
each  word,  helped  Mapu  to  a  better  understanding 
of  the  Bible  text  and  a  closer  identification  with  its 
spirit. 

Good  fortune  and  material  well-being  are  not 
stable  possessions  with  people  like  the  Russian 
Jews,  obliged  to  earn  their  livelihood  in  the  face  of 
rabid  competition,  and  exposed  to  the  caprices  of  a 
hostile  legislation.  One  day  Mapu's  father-in-law 
found  himself  ruined.  The  young  man  was 
obliged  to  interrupt  his  studies  and  accept  a  place 

138 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

as  tutor  in  the  family  of  a  well-situated  Jewish 
farmer. 

His  prolonged  stay  in  the  country  exerted  an 
excellent  influence  upon  the  impressionable  soul 
of  the  young  man.  His  close  communion  with 
nature,  which  quickly  captivated  his  mind,  rent 
asunder  forever  the  mystic  veil  that  had  en- 
shrouded it.  Still  more  important  was  his  asso- 
ciation with  the  enlightened  Polish  curate  of  the 
village,  who  interested  himself  in  the  young  scholar 
and  devoted  much  time  to  his  instruction.  Mapu 
threw  himself  with  ardor  into  the  study  of  the 
Latin  classics.  He  is  the  first  instance  of  a  Hebrew 
poet  having  had  the  opportunity  of  forming  his 
mind  upon  the  ample  models  of  classic  antiquity. 
Continuing  under  the  tuition  of  the  curate,  he 
studied  French,  the  language  of  his  preference, 
then  German,  and,  only  in  the  last  instance,  Rus- 
sian. The  Russian  language  was  not  held  in  high 
esteem  by  the  Maskilim  of  Mapu's  day.  In 
Kowno,  whither  he  returned  after  some  time,  he 
was  compelled  to  hide  his  new  acquisitions,  for  fear 
of  arousing  the  hatred  of  the  fanatics  and  suffering 
injury  in  his  profession  as  teacher  of  Hebrew. 

Infatuated  with  the  works  of  the  romanticists, 
especially  the  novels  of  Eugene  Sue,  his  favorite 

10  139 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

author,  he  began  to  think  out  the  first  part  of  his 
historical  romance  Ahabat  Ziyyon  ("  The  Love  of 
Zion")  as  early  as  1830.  Twenty-three  years 
were  to  pass  before  it  saw  the  light  of  day.  Dur- 
ing that  interval  he  led  a  life  of  never-ceasing  pri- 
vation and  toil,  laboring  by  day,  dreaming  by 
night.  The  Haskalah  had  created  humanist  cen- 
tres in  the  little  towns  of  Lithuania.  In  some  of 
these,  in  Zhagor  and  in  Rossieny,  "  the  city  of  the 
educated,  of  the  friends  of  their  people  and  of  the 
sacred  tongue  ",  Mapu  finally  found  the  oppor- 
tunity to  display  his  talents.  But  his  material  con- 
dition, bad  enough  to  begin  with,  grew  worse  and 
worse.  After  oft-repeated  applications,  he  re- 
ceived the  appointment  as  teacher  at  a  Jewish  gov- 
ernment school  in  Kowno,  in  1848.  This,  together 
with  the  pecuniary  assistance  granted  him  by  his 
more  fortunate  brother,  put  an  end  permanently 
to  his  embarrassment.  Occupying  an  independent 
position,  he  could  devote  himself  to  his  romance. 
Finally,  the  success  obtained  by  the  Hebrew  trans- 
lation of  "  The  Mysteries  of  Paris  "  emboldened 
him  to  publish  his  "  Love  of  Zion  ",  and  the  timid 
author  was  overwhelmed,  stupefied  almost,  when 
he  realized  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  public 
had  greeted  his  first  literary  product. 

140 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

Into  the  ascetic  and  puritanic  environment  in 
which  the  world  of  sentiment  and  the  life  of  the 
spirit  were  unknown,  Mapu's  romance  descended 
like  a  flash  of  lightning,  rending  the  cloud  that 
enveloped  all  hearts.  A  century  after  Rousseau, 
there  was  still  a  corner  in  Europe  in  which  pleas- 
ure, the  joy  of  living,  the  good  things  of  this  life, 
and  nature,  were  considered  futilities,  in  which 
love  was  condemned  as  a  crime,  and  the  passions 
as  the  ruin  of  the  soul.  Such  were  the  surround- 
ings amid  which  "  The.  Love  of  Zion  ",  a  Jewish 
Nouvelle  Heloise,  appeared  as  the  first  plea  for 
nature  and  love. 

'  The  Love  of  Zion  "  is  an  historical  romance. 
It  re-tells  a  chapter  in  the  life  of  the  Jewish  people 
at  the  time  of  the  prophet  Isaiah.  The  poet  could 
not  exercise  any  choice  as  to  his  subject — it  was 
forced  upon  him  inevitably.  In  order  to  be  sure 
of  touching  a  responsive  chord  in  his  people,  it  was 
necessary  to  carry  the  action  twenty-five  centuries 
back.  A  Jewish  novel  based  on  contemporaneous 
life  would  have  been  incongruous  both  with  truth 
and  with  the  spirit  of  the  ghetto. 

The  time  of  his  novel  was  the  golden  age  of 
ancient  Judea.  It  was  the  epoch  of  a  great  literary 
and  prophetic  outburst.  Also  it  was  an  agitated 

141 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

time,  presenting  striking  contrasts.  At  Jerusalem, 
an  enlightened  king  was  making  a  firm  stand 
against  the  limitation  of  his  power  from  within 
and  against  an  almost  invincible  enemy  from  with- 
out. On  the  one  side,  society  was  decadent,  on 
the  other  side  arose  the  greatest  moralists  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  the  prophets,  the  intrepid 
assailants  of  corruption.  It  was,  finally,  the  period 
in  which  the  noblest  dreams  of  a  better,  an  ideal 
humanity  were  dreamed.  That  is  the  time  in  which 
the  author  lets  his  story  take  place. 

In  the  reign  of  King  Ahaz,  two  friends  lived  at  Jerusalem. 
The  one  named  Joram  was  an  officer  in  the  army  and  the  owner 
of  rich  domains ;  the  other,  Jedidiah,  belonged  to  the  royal  family. 
Joram  had  married  two  wives,  Haggith  and  Naamah.  The  latter 
was  his  favorite,  but  at  the  end  of  many  years  she  had  borne 
him  no  children.  Obliged  to  go  forth  to  war  against  the  Philis- 
tines, Joram  entrusted  his  family  to  the  care  of  his  friend 
Jedidiah.  At  the  moment  of  his  departure,  his  wife  Naamah, 
and  also  Tirzah,  the  wife  of  Jedidiah,  discovered,  each,  that 
she  was  with  child.  The  two  friends  agreed,  that  if  the  one 
bore  a  son  and  the  other  a  daughter,  the  two  children  should 
in  time  marry  each  other. 

Things  turned  out  according  to  the  hopes  of  the  fathers.  The 
wife  of  Jedidiah  was  the  first  to  be  confined,  and  she  gave  birth 
to  a  daughter,  who  was  named  Tamar. 

Joram  was  taken  captive  by  the  enemy,  and  did  not  return. 
At  the  same  time  a  great  misfortune  overtook  his  family.  Hi* 

142 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

steward  Achan  permitted  himself  to  be  tempted  to  evil  by  a 
judge,  Matthan  by  name,  a  personal  enemy  of  Joram.  He  set 
fire  to  the  house  of  his  master,  first  having  despoiled  it  of  all 
there  was  in  it.  His  booty  he  carried  to  the  house  of  Matthan, 
and  Haggith  and  her  children  perished  in  the  flames.  Achan 
laid  the  blame  for  the  fire  upon  Naamah,  who,  he  said,  desired 
to  avenge  herself  upon  her  rival  Haggith.  He  substituted  his 
own  son  Nabal  for  Azrikam,  the  son  of  Haggith,  the  only  one  of 
Joram's  family,  he  pretended,  to  escape  with  his  life.  Poor 
Naamah,  about  to  be  delivered,  was  compelled  to  flee  and  take 
refuge  with  a  shepherd  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bethlehem. 
There  she  bore  twins,  a  son  named  Amnon,  and  a  daughter, 

Peninnah. 

* 

Jedidiah,  shocked  by  the  calamity  that  had  overwhelmed  the 
house  of  his  friend,  took  the  supposed  Azrikam,  the  son  of 
Joram,  home  with  him,  and  raised  him  with  his  own  children. 
In  order  to  keep  the  spirit  of  his  word  to  his  friend,  he  consid- 
ered Azrikam  the  future  husband  of  his  daughter,  seeing  that 
Naamah  had  disappeared,  and  was,  besides,  under  the  suspicion 
of  being  a  murderess.  Achan's  triumph  was  complete.  His  son 
was  to  take  the  place  of  Azrikam,  inherit  the  house  of  Joram, 
and  marry  the  beautiful  Tamar. 

In  the  meanwhile  happened  the  fall  of  the  kingdom  of  Samaria. 
The  Assyrians  carried  off  the  inhabitants  captive,  among  them 
Hananel,  the  father-in-law  of  Jedidiah.  One  of  the  captives, 
the  Samaritan  priest  Zimri,  succeeded  in  making  his  escape,  and 
he  fled  to  Jerusalem.  The  name  of  his  fellow-prisoner  Hana- 
nel, which  he  used  as  a  recommendation,  opened  the  house  and 
the  trustful  heart  of  Jedidiah  to  him. 

Tamar  and  Azrikam  grew  up  side  by  side  in  the  house  of 
Jedidiah.  They  differed  from  each  other  radically.  Beautiful 

143 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

as  Tamar  was,  and  good  and  generous,  so  ugly  and  perverse 
was  Azrikam.  The  maiden  despised  him  with  all  her  heart. 
One  day  Tamar,  while  walking  in  the  country  near  Bethlehem, 
was  attacked  by  a  lion.  A  shepherd  hastened  to  her  rescue  and 
saved  her  life.  This  shepherd  was  none  but  Amnon,  the  son  of 
the  unfortunate  Naamah. 

Teman,  the  brother  of  Tamar,  by  chance  happened  upon 
Peninnah,  the  sister  of  Amnon,  who  pretended  she  was  an  alien, 
and  he  was  seized  with  violent  love  for  her.  Thus  the  son 
and  the  daughter  of  Jedidiah  were  infatuated,  the  one  with  the 
daughter  of  Naamah,  the  other  with  her  son,  without  suspecting 
who  they  were. 

Amnon,  who  had  come  to  Jerusalem  to  celebrate  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles,  was  received  with  joy,  by  Jedidiah  and  his  wife, 
as  the  savior  of  their  daughter.  He  was  made  at  home  in 
their  house,  and  won  general  favor  by  reason  of  his  excellent 
character.  The  young  shepherd  felt  attracted  to  the  study  of 
sacred  subjects.  He  frequented  the  school  of  the  prophets,  and 
he  was  particularly  entranced  with  the  eloquence  of  the  great 
Isaiah. 

The  pretended  Azrikam  did  not  view  the  friendship  established 
between  Tamar  and  Amnon  with  a  favorable  eye.  He  took  the 
priest  Zimri  into  his  confidence,  and  made  him  his  accomplice 
and  aid  in  disposing  of  his  rival.  Jedidiah,  meanwhile,  remained 
faithful  to  his  promise,  and  persisted  in  his  intention  of  giving  his 
daughter  in  marriage  to  Azrikam,  in  spite  of  her  own  wishes 
in  the  matter.  When  the  tender  feeling  between  Tamar  and 
Amnon  became  evident,  Jedidiah  dismissed  the  latter  from  his 
house. 

The  period  treated  of  is  the  most  turbulent  in  the  history  of 
Judea.  The  conflict  of  passions  and  intrigues  is  going  on  that 

144 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

preceded  the  downfall  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah  and  the  great 
Assyrian  invasion.  Moral  disorder  reigns  everywhere,  iniquity 
and  lies  rule  in  place  of  justice.  The  upright  tremble  and  hope, 
encouraged  by  the  prophets.  The  wicked  are  defiant,  and  give 
themselves  up  shamelessly  to  their  debauches. 

"  Let  us  drink,  let  us  sing !  "  exclaimed  the  crowd  of  the  im- 
pious. "  Who  knows  whether  to-morrow  finds  us  alive !  " 

Zimri  meditates  a  master  stroke.  Every  evening  Amnon  betook 
himself  to  a  little  hut  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  where  his 
mother  and  his  sister  lived.  Zimri  surprises  him.  He  takes 
Tamar  and  Teman  there,  and  they  watch  Amnon  embrace  his 
sister.  Now  all  is  over.  A  dreadful  blow  is  dealt  the  love  of 
brother  and  sister,  who  are  ignorant  of  the  bonds  of  kinship 
uniting  Amnon  and  Peninrtah.  Repulsed  by  Tamar,  for  he 
knows  not  what  reason,  Amnon  leaves  Jerusalem,  despair  in  his 
heart. 

All  is  not  lost  yet.  Maltreated  by  his  own  son  and  plagued 
by  remorse,  Achan  confesses  his  misdeeds  to  the  alleged  Azrikam, 
and  reveals  his  real  origin  to  him.  Furious,  Azrikam  thinks  of 
nothing  but  to  get  rid  of  his  father.  He  sets  his  father's  house 
afire,  but,  before  his  death,  Achan  makes  a  confession  to  the 
court.  Everything  is  disclosed,  and  everything  is  cleared  up. 
Tamar,  now  made  aware  of  the  error  she  has  committed,  is 
inconsolable  at  having  separated  from  Amnon. 

Meantime  the  political  events  take  their  course.  The  brave 
king  Hezekiah  carries  on  the  struggle  against  his  minister 
Shebnah,  who  desires  to  surrender  the  capital  to  the  Assyrians. 
The  miraculous  defeat  of  the  enemy  at  the  gates  of  Jerusalem 
assures  the  triumph  of  Hezekiah.  Peace  and  justice  are  estab- 
lished once  more. 

During  this  time,  Amnon,  taken  prisoner  in  war  and  sold  as 
145 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

slave  to  a  master  living  on  one  of  the  Ionian  isles,  has  found 
his  father  Joram  there.  Both  together  succeed  in  making  good 
their  escape,  and  they  return  to  Jerusalem. 

The  joy  of  the  Holy  City  delivered  from  the  invader  coincides 
with  the  joy  of  the  two  reunited  families,  whose  cherished 
wishes  are  realized.  The  loves  of  Tamar  and  Amnon,  and 
Teman  and  Peninnah,  triumph. 

This  is  the  frame  of  the  novel,  which  recalls  the 
wonder-tales  of  the  eighteenth  century.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  romantic  intrigue,  study  of  char- 
acter, and  development  of  plot,  it  is  a  puerile  work. 
The  interest  does  not  reside  in  the  romantic  story. 
Borrowed  from  modern  works,  the  fiction  rather 
injures  Mapu's  novel,  which  is  primarily  a  poem 
and  an  historical  reconstruction.  "  The  Love  of 
Zion  "  is  more  than  an  historical  romance,  more 
than  a  narrative  invented  by  an  imaginative  ro- 
mancer— it  is  ancient  Judea  herself,  the  Judea  of 
the  prophets  and  the  kings,  brought  to  life  again 
in  the  dreams  of  the  poet.  The  reconstruction  of 
Jewish  society  of  long  ago,  the  appreciation  of  the 
prophetic  life,  the  local  color,  the  majesty  of  the 
descriptions  of  nature,  the  vivid  and  striking  figures 
of  speech,  the  elevated  and  vigorous  style,  every- 
thing is  so  instinct  with  the  spirit  of  the  Bible  that, 
without  the  romantic  story,  one  would  believe  him- 

146 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

self  to  be  perusing  a  long-lost  and  now  recovered 
book  of  poetry  of  ancient  Judea. 

Dreamy,  guileless,  ignorant  of  the  actual  and 
complicated  phenomena  of  modern  life,  Mapu  was 
able  to  identify  himself  with  the  times  of  the 
prophets  so  well  that  he  confounded  them  with 
modern  times.  He  committed  the  anachronism  of 
transporting  the  humanist  ideas  of  the  Lithuanian 
Maskil  to  the  period  of  Isaiah.  But  by  reason  of 
wishing  to  show  himself  modern,  he  became  an- 
cient. He  was  not  even  aware  of  the  fact  that  he 
was  restoring  the  past  with  its  peculiar  civilization, 
its  manners,  and  ideas. 

None  the  less  his  aim  as  a  reformer  was  attained. 
Guided  by  prophetic  intuition,  Mapu  accomplished 
a  task  making  for  morality  and  culture.  To  men 
given  over  to  a  degenerate  asceticism,  or  to  a  mystic 
attitude  hostile  to  the  present,  he  revealed  a  glori- 
ous past  as  it  really  had  been,  not  as  their  brains, 
weighed  down  by  misery  and  befogged  by  igno- 
rance, pictured  it  to  have  been.  He  showed  them, 
not  the  Judea  of  the  Rabbis,  of  the  pious,  and  the 
ascetics,  but  the  land  blessed  by  nature,  the  land 
where  men  took  joy  in  living,  the  land  of  life,  flow- 
ing with  gaiety  and  love,  the  land  of  the  Song  of 
Songs  and  of  Ruth.  He  drew  Isaiah  for  them, 

147 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

not  as  a  saintly  Rabbi  or  a  teller  of  mystical 
dreams,  but  a  poetic  Isaiah,  patriot,  sublime  moral- 
ist, the  prophet  of  a  free  Judea,  the  preacher  of 
earthly  prosperity,  of  goodness,  and  justice,  oppos- 
ing the  narrow  doctrines  and  minute  and  senseless 
ceremonialism  inculcated  by  the  priests,  who  were 
the  predecessors  of  the  Rabbis. 

The  lesson  of  the  novel  is  an  exhortation  to 
return  to  a  natural  life.  It  presents  a  world  of 
pleasure,  of  feeling,  of  joyous  living,  justified  and 
idealized  in  the  name  of  the  past.  It  sets  forth 
the  charms  of  rural  life  in  a  succession  of  poetic 
pictures.  Judea,  the  pastoral  land,  passes  under 
the  eyes  of  the  reader.  The  blithe  humor  of  the 
vine-dressers,  the  light-heartedness  of  the  shep- 
herds, the  popular  festivals  with  their  outbursts  of 
joy  and  high  spirits,  are  reproduced  with  masterly 
skill.  The  moral  grandeur  of  Judea  appears  in 
the  magnificent  description  of  a  whole  people  as- 
sembled to  celebrate  the  Feast  in  the  Holy  City, 
and  in  the  impassioned  discourses  of  the  prophets, 
who  openly  criticise  the  great  and  the  priests  in  the 
name  of  justice  and  truth.  But  especially  it  is  love 
that  pervades  the  work,  love,  chaste  and  ingenuous, 
apotheosized  in  the  relation  of  Amnon  and  Tamar. 

The  impression  that  was  made  by  the  book  is 

148 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

inconceivable.  It  can  be  compared  with  nothing 
less  than  the  effect  produced  by  the  publication  of 
the  Nouvelle  Helo'ise. 

At  last  the  Hebrew  language  had  found  the 
master  who  could  make  the  appeal  to  popular  taste, 
who  understood  the  art  of  speaking  to  the  multi- 
tude and  touching  them  deeply.  The  success  of 
the  book  was  impressive.  In  spite  of  the  fanatical 
intriguers,  who  looked  with  horror  upon  this  pro- 
fanation of  the  holy  language,  the  novel  made  its 
way  everywhere,  into  tbe  academies  for  Rabbinical 
students,  into  the  very  synagogues.  The  young 
were  amazed  and  entranced  by  the  poetic  flights 
and  by  the  sentimentalism  of  the  book.  A  whole 
people  seemed  to  be  reborn  unto  life,  to  emerge 
from  its  millennial  lethargy.  Upon  all  minds  the 
comparison  between  ancient  grandeur  and  actually 
existing  misery  obtruded  itself. 

The  Lithuanian  woods  witnessed  a  startling 
spectacle.  Rabbinical  students,  playing  truant,  re- 
sorted thither  to  read  Mapu's  novel  in  secret. 
Luxuriously  they  lived  the  ancient  days  over  again. 
The  elevated  love  celebrated  in  the  book  touched 
all  hearts,  and  many  an  artless  romance  was 
sketched  in  outline. 

But  the  greatest  beneficiary  of  the  new  move- 

149 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

ment  ushered  into  being  by  the  appearance  of  "The 
Love  of  Zion  "  was  the  Hebrew  language,  revived 
in  all  its  splendor. 

"  I  have  searched  out  the  ancient  Latin  in  its  majestic  vigor, 
the  German  with  its  depth  of  meaning,  the  French  full  of  charm 
and  ravishing  expressions,  the  Russian  in  the  flower  of  its  youth. 
Each  has  qualities  of  its  own,  each  is  crowned  with  beauty. 
But  in  the  face  of  all  of  them,  whose  voice  appeals  unto  me? 
Is  it  not  thy  voice,  my  dove?  How  pellucid  is  thy  word,  though 
its  music  issues  from  the  land  of  destruction!  ....  The  melody 
of  thy  words  sings  in  my  ear  like  a  heavenly  harp."  s 

This  idealization  of  a  language  of  the  past,  and 
of  that  past  itself,  produced  an  enormous  effect 
upon  all  minds,  and  it  prepared  the  soil  for  an 
abundant  harvest.  The  success  won  by  '  The 
Love  of  Zion  "  encouraged  Mapu  to  publish  his 
other  historical  romance,  the  action  of  which  is 
placed  in  the  same  period  as  the  first  work.  Ashmat 
Shomeron  ("The  Transgression  of  Samaria"), 
also  published  at  Wilna,  is  an  epic  in  the  true  sense. 
It  reproduces  the  conflicts  set  afoot  by  the  rivalry 
between  Jerusalem  and  Samaria.  The  underlying 
idea  in  this  novel  is  not  unlike  that  of  "  The  Love 
of  Zion  ".  But  the  author  allows  himself  to  run 
riot  in  the  use  of  antitheses  and  contrasts.  He 

8  See  Brainin,  "  Abraham  Mapu  ",  p.  107. 
150 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

arraigns  the  poor  inhabitants  of  Samaria  with  piti- 
less severity.  Whatever  is  good,  just,  beautiful, 
lofty,  and  chaste  in  love,  proceeds  from  Jerusalem ; 
whatever  savors  of  hypocrisy,  crookedness,  dog- 
matism, absurdity,  sensuality,  proceeds  from  Sa- 
maria. The  author  is  particularly  implacable  to- 
ward the  hypocrites,  and  toward  the  blind  fanatics 
with  their  narrow-mindedness.  The  personifica- 
tion of  certain  types  of  ghetto  fanatics  is  a  trans- 
parent ruse.  The  book  excited  the  anger  of  the 
obscurantists,  and,  in  their  wrath,  they  persecuted 
all  who  read  the  works  of  Mapu. 

'  The  Transgression  of  Samaria "  shares  a 
number  of  faults  of  technique  with  the  first  novel, 
but  also  it  is  equally  with  the  other  a  product  of 
rich  imaginativeness  and  epic  vigor.  In  reprodu- 
cing local  color  and  the  Biblical  life,  the  author's 
touch  is  even  surer  than  in  "  The  Love  of  Zion  ". 
If  one  were  inclined  to  apply  to  Mapu's  novels 
the  standards  of  art  criticism,  a  radical  fault  would 
reveal  itself.  Mapu  is  not  a  psychologist.  He 
does  not  know  how  to  create  heroes  of  flesh  and 
blood.  His  men  and  women  are  blurred,  artificial. 
The  moral  aim  dominates.  The  plot  is  puerile, 
and  the  succession  of  events  tiresome.  But  these 
shortcomings  were  not  noticed  by  his  simple,  un- 

151 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

cultivated  readers,  for  the  reason  that  they  shared 
the  artless  naivete  of  the  author. 

Besides  these  two,  we  have  some  poetic  frag- 
ments of  a  third  historical  romance  by  Mapu, 
which  was  destroyed  by  the  Russian  censor.  There 
is  also  an  excellent  manual  of  the  Hebrew  language, 
Amon  Padgug  ("The  Master  Pedagogue"), 
very  much  valued  by  teachers  of  Hebrew,  and,  fin- 
ally, a  method  of  the  French  language  in  Hebrew. 

We  shall  revert  elsewhere  to  his  last  novel,  'Ayit 
Zabua  ("The  Hypocrite"),  which  is  very  dif- 
ferent in  style  and  character  from  his  first  two 
romances. 

In  his  last  years  he  was  afflicted  with  a  severe 
disease.  Unable  to  work,  he  was  supported  by  his 
brother,  who  had  settled  in  Paris,  and  who  invited 
Mapu  to  join  him  there.  On  the  way,  death  over- 
took him,  and  he  never  saw  the  capital  of  the 
country  for  which  he  had  expressed  the  greatest 
admiration  all  his  life. 

In  southern  Russia,  especially  at  Odessa,  literary 
activity  continued  to  be  carried  on  with  success. 
Abraham  Bar  Gottlober  (1811-1900),  writing 
under  the  pseudonym  Mahalalel,  was  the  most 
productive  of  the  poets,  if  not  the  best  endowed  of 
the  whole  school. 

152 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

A  disciple  of  Isaac  Bar  Levinsohn,  and  visibly 
affected  by  the  influence  of  Wessely  and  Abraham 
Bar  Lebensohn,  he  devoted  himself  to  poetry.  The 
first  volume  of  his  poems  appeared  at  Wilna  in 
1851.  Toward  the  end  of  his  days,  he  published 
his  complete  works  in  three  volumes,  Kol  Shire 
Mahalalel  ("  Collected  Poems  ",  Warsaw,  1890). 
His  earliest  productions  go  back  to  the  middle  of 
the  last  century.  He  is  a  remarkable  stylist,  and, 
in  some  of  his  works,  his  language  is  both  simple 
and  polished.  "  Cain  ",  or  the  Vagabond,  is  a 
marvel  in  style  and  thought. 

In  the  poem  entitled  "  The  Bird  in  the  Cage  ", 
he  writes  as  a  Zionist,  and  he  weeps  over  the  trials 
of  his  people  in  exile.  In  another  poem,  Nezah 
Yisrael  ("  The  Eternity  of  Israel  "),  perhaps  the 
best  that  issued  from  his  pen,  he  puts  forward  a 
dignified  claim  to  his  title  as  Jew,  of  which  he  is 
proud. 

"  Judah  has  neither  bow  nor  warring  hosts,  nor  avenging 
dart,  nor  sharpened  sword.  But  he  has  a  suit  in  the  name  of 
justice  with  the  nations  that  contend  with  him 

"  I  take  good  heed  not  to  recount  to  you  our  glory.  Why 
should  I  extol  the  eternal  people,  for  you  detest  its  virtues,  you 
desire  not  to  hear  of  them  ....  But  remember,  ye  peoples,  if 
I  commit  a  transgression,  not  in  me  lies  the  wrong — through  your 
sin  I  have  stumbled  .... 

"  I  ask  not  for  pity,  I  ask  but  for  justice." 
153 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

On  the  whole,  Gottlober  lacks  poetic  warmth.  In 
the  majority  of  his  poems,  his  style  errs  on  the  side 
of  prolixity  and  wordiness.  He  has  made  a  number 
of  translations  into  Hebrew,  and  his  prose  is  ex- 
cellent. His  satires  frequently  display  wit.  His 
versified  history  of  Hebrew  poetry,  contained  in 
the  third  volume  of  his  works,  is  inferior  to  the 
Melizat  Yeshurun  by  Solomon  Levinsohn  referred 
to  above.  Later  he  published  a  monthly  review  in 
Hebrew,  under  the  title  Ha-Boker  Or  ("The 
Clear  Morning").  His  reminiscences  of  the 
Hasidim,4  whom  he  opposed  all  his  life,  are  the 
best  of  his  prose  writings,  and  put  him  in  a  class 
with  the  realists.  He  also  wrote  a  history  of  the 
Kabbalah  and  Hasidism  ( Toledot  ha-Kabbalah 
weha-Hasidut) . 

Gottlober  was  the  Mehabber  personified,  the 
type  of  the  vagabond  author,  who  is  obliged  to  go 
about  in  person  and  force  his  works  upon  patrons 
in  easy  circumstances. 

The  number  of  writers  belonging  to  the  ro- 
mantic school,  by  reason  of  the  form  of  their 
works,  or  by  reason  of  their  content,  is  too  large 
for  us  to  give  them  all  by  name.  Only  a  few  can 
be  mentioned  and  characterized  briefly. 

4  In  the  monthly  Ha-Boker  Or,  and  Orot  me-Offl  ("Gleams 
in  the  Darkness"),  Warsaw,  1881. 

154 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

Elias  Mordecai  Werbel  (1805-1880)  was  the 
official  poet  of  the  literary  circle  at  Odessa.  A 
collection  of  his  poems,  which  appeared  at  Odessa, 
is  distinguished  by  its  polished  execution.  Besides 
odes  and  occasional  poems,  they  contain  several 
historical  pieces,  the  most  remarkable  of  them 
"  Huldah  and  Bor  ",  Wilna,  1848,  based  on  a 
Tahnudic  legend.1 

He  was  excelled  by  Israel  Roll  (1830-1893),  a 
Galician  by  birth,  but  living  in  Odessa.  His  Shire 
Romi  ("  Roman  Poems  "),  all  translated  from  the 
works  of  the  great  Latin  poets,  give  evidence  of 
considerable  poetic  endowment.  His  style  is  clas- 
sic, copious,  and  precise,  and  his  volume  of  poems 
will  always  maintain  a  place  in  a  library  of  Hebrew 
literature  by  the  side  of  Mikal's  version  of  Ovid 
and  the  admirable  translation  of  the  Sibylline 
books  made  by  the  eminent  philologist  Joshua 
Steinberg. 

In  prose,  first  place  belongs  to  Benjamin  Man- 
delstamm  (died  1886).  Among  his  works  is  a 
history  of  Russia,  but  his  most  important  produc- 
tion, Hazon  la-Mo  ed,  is  a  narrative  of  his  travels 
and  the  impressions  he  received  in  the  "  Jewish 

1  In  Keneset  Yurtul,  Warsaw,  1888. 
11  155 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

zone  ",  chiefly  Lithuania.  In  certain  respects,  he 
must  be  classified  with  Mordecai  A.  Ginzburg, 
with  whom  he  shares  clarity  of  thought  and  wit. 
But  his  sentimentality,  and  his  excessive  indulgence 
in  certain  affectations  of  style,  range  him  with  the 
romantic  poets. 

The  distinguished  poet  Judah  Leon  Gordon  in 
his  beginnings  also  belonged  to  the  romantic  school. 
His  earliest  poems,  especially  "  David  and 
Michal  ",  treat  of  Bible  times.  But  Gordon  did 
not  remain  long  in  sympathy  with  the  endeavors 
of  the  romanticists,  and  the  mature  stage  of  his 
literary  activity  belongs  to  a  later  epoch. 

The  characteristic  trait  of  Hebrew  romanticism, 
which  distinguishes  it  from  most  analogous  move- 
ments in  Europe,  is  that  it  remained  in  the  path 
of  orderly  progress  and  emancipation.  It  showed 
no  sign  of  turning  aside  toward  reactionary  meas- 
ures in  religion  or  in  other  concerns.  Neither  the 
retrograde  policy  adopted  by  the  government 
against  the  Jews,  nor  the  uncompromising  fanati- 
cism of  certain  parties  among  the  Jews  themselves, 
could  arrest  the  development  of  the  humanitarian 
ideas  disseminated  by  the  Austrian  and  the  Italian 
school. 

156 


THE  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

Since  the  origin  of  the  German  Meassefim  move- 
ment, the  evolution  of  Hebrew  literature  has  not 
been  stopped  for  a  single  instant  in  its  striving  for 
knowledge  and  light.  The  romantic  movement  is 
one  of  its  most  characteristic  stages,  and  at  the 
same  time  one  most  productive  of  good  results. 
The  sombre  present  held  out  no  promises  for  the 
future,  and  the  dark  clouds  on  the  political  hori- 
zon eclipsed  every  hope  of  better  fortunes.  At 
such  a  time  the  champions  of  the  Haskalah  op- 
posed ignorance  and  prejudice  in  the  name  of  the 
past,  and  in  the  name  of  morality  and  idealism 
they  sought  to  win  the  hearts  of  the  populace  for 
the  "  Divine  Haskalah  ". 

The  influence  of  Hebrew  romanticism  was 
many-sided.  The  blending  of  the  rationalism  of 
the  first  humanists  with  the  patriotic  sentiments  of 
Luzzatto  fortified  the  bonds  that  united  the  writers 
to  the  mass  of  the  faithful  believers.  A  sentimen- 
talism  that  was  called  forth  by  a  poetic  revival  of 
the  times  of  the  prophets  did  more  for  the  diffusion 
of  sane  and  natural  ideas  than  exhortations  and 
arguments  without  end,  and  the  declaration,  re- 
peated again  and  again  by  the  school  of  Wilna, 
that  science  and  faith  stand  in  no  sort  of  opposition 
to  each  other,  was  an  equally  powerful  means  of 

157 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

bringing  together  the  educated  with  the  moderate 
among  the  religious. 

Soon  the  times  were  to  become  more  favorable 
to  a  renewal  of  the  combat  with  the  obscurants, 
and  then  the  antagonism  between  the  educated 
classes  and  the  orthodox  would  be  resumed  with 
fresh  vigor.  When  that  time  arrived,  a  whole 
school  of  ardent  realistic  writers  set  themselves  the 
task  of  counteracting  the  misery  of  Jewish  life,  and 
they  executed  it  without  sparing  the  susceptibilities 
and  the  self-love  of  the  religious  masses.  They 
rose  up  in  judgment  against  orthodox  and  tradi- 
tional Judaism;  they  chastised  it  and  traduced  it. 
With  acerbity  they  promulgated  the  gospel  of 
modern  humanism  and  the  surrender  of  outward 
beliefs.  By  their  side,  however,  we  shall  see  a  more 
moderate  school  claim  its  own,  and  one  not  less 
efficient.  It  will  proclaim  words  of  charity,  faith, 
and  hope.  To  the  negations  and  destructive  aphor- 
isms of  the  realistic  school  it  will  oppose  firm  con- 
fidence in  the  early  regeneration  of  the  Jewish 
people,  called  to  fulfil  its  destiny  upon  its  national 
soil.  The  Zionist  appeal  will  unite  the  orthodox 
masses  and  the  emancipated  youth  in  a  single  trans- 
port of  action  and  hope. 


158 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE   EMANCIPATION   MOVEMENT 

THE  REALISTS 

The  accession  of  Alexander  II  to  the  throne 
marks  a  decisive  moment  in  the  history  of  the  Rus- 
sian empire.  The  fresh  impetus  that  proceeded 
from  the  generous  ancj  liberal  ideas  encouraged  by 
the  Czar  himself  reached  the  ghetto.  Substantial 
improvements  in  the  political  situation  of  the  Jews 
— their  enlarged  rights  of  residence  in  all  parts  of 
the  empire  and  the  easier  access  to  the  liberal  pro- 
fessions granted  them,  the  abolition  of  the  old 
order  of  military  service  and  the  suppression  of 
the  Kahal — these,  joined  to  the  expectation  of  an 
early  civil  emancipation,  stirred  the  Jewish  human- 
ists profoundly.  Startled  out  of  their  age-long 
dreams,  the  Jews  with  a  modern  education  found 
themselves  suddenly  face  to  face  with  reality,  and 
engaged  in  a  struggle  with  the  exigencies  of  mod- 
ern life.  In  justice  to  them  it  must  be  said  that  they 
realized  at  once  where  their  duty  lay,  and  they 
were  not  found  wanting. 

in 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

They  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  re- 
form government,  and  with  all  their  strength  they 
tried  to  neutralize  the  resistance  with  which  the 
conservative  Jews  met  the  reforms,  projected  or 
achieved.  They  were  particularly  active  in  the 
regions  remote  from  the  large  cities,  which  had 
hardly  been  touched  by  the  new  currents.  Early 
in  the  struggle,  the  creation  of  a  Hebrew  press 
placed  an  effective  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the 
defenders  of  the  new  order. 

The  interest  aroused  among  the  Jews  by  the 
Crimean  War  suggested  the  idea  of  a  political  and 
literary  journal  in  Hebrew  to  Eliezer  Lipman 
Silberman.  It  was  called  Ha-Maggid  ("  The 
Herald"),  and  the  first  issue  appeared  in  1856, 
in  the  little  Prussian  town  of  Lyck,  situated  on  the 
Russo-Polish  frontier.  It  was  successful  beyond 
expectation.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  readers  at 
sight  of  the  periodical  published  in  the  holy  lan- 
guage expressed  itself  in  dithyrambic  eulogies  and 
a  vast  number  of  odes  that  filled  its  columns.  The 
influence  it  exercised  was  great.  It  formed  a  meet- 
ing-place for  the  educated  Jews  of  all  countries  and 
all  shades  of  opinion.  Besides  news  bearing  on 
politics  and  literature,  and  philological  essays,  and 
poems  more  or  less  bombastic,  Ha-Maggid  pub- 

160 


THE  REALISTS 

lished  a  number  of  original  articles  of  great  value. 
Its  issues  formed  the  link  between  the  old  masters, 
Rapoport  and  Luzzatto,  and  young  Russian  writ- 
ers like  Gordon  and  Lilienblum. 

The  learned  French  Orientalist  Joseph  Halevy, 
later  the  author  of  an  interesting  collection  of  He- 
brew poems,  used  Ha-Maggid  for  the  promulga- 
tion of  his  bold  ideas  on  the  revival  of  Hebrew, 
and  its  practical  adjustment  to  modern  notions  and 
needs  by  means  of  the  invention  of  new  terms.  In 
part,  his  propositions  have  been  realized  in  our 
own  days.  To  Rabbi  Hirsch  Kalisher  and  the 
editor,  David  Gordon,  as  the  first  promoters  of  the 
Zionist  idea,  Ha-Maggid  gave  the  opportunity,  as 
early  as  1860,  of  urging  its  practical  realization, 
and  due  to  their  propaganda  the  first  society  was 
formed  for  the  colonization  of  Palestine. 

This  pioneer  venture  in  the  field  of  Hebrew 
journalism  stimulated  many  others.  Hebrew  news- 
papers sprang  up  in  all  countries,  varying  in  their 
tendencies  according  to  their  surroundings  and  the 
opinions  of  their  editors.  In  Galicia  especially, 
where  there  was  no  absurd  censorship  to  manacle 
thought,  Hebrew  journals  were  published  in  abun- 
dance. In  Palestine,  in  Austria,  at  one  time  in 
Paris  even,  periodicals  were  founded,  and  they 

161 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

created  a  public  opinion  as  well  as  readers.  But 
it  was  above  all  in  Russia,  in  the  measure  in  which 
the  censorship  was  relaxed,  that  the  Hebrew  press 
became  eventually  a  popular  tribunal  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  word,  with  a  steady  army  of  readers 
at  its  back. 

Samuel  Joseph  Finn,  an  historian  and  a  philol- 
ogist of  merit,  published  a  review  at  Wilna,  called 
Ha-Karmel  (1860-1880),  which  was  devoted  to 
the  Science  of  Judaism  in  particular. 

Hayyim  Selig  Slonimski,  the  renowned  mathe- 
matician, founded  his  journal  Ha-Zefirah  ("  The 
Morningstar  ")  in  1872.  It  was  issued  first  in 
Berlin  and  later  in  Warsaw.  He  himself  wrote  a 
large  number  of  articles  in  it,  in  his  chosen  field  as 
popularizer  of  the  natural  sciences. 

In  Galicia,  Joseph  Kohen-Zedek  published  Ha- 
Mebasser  ("The  Messenger")  and  Ha-Nesher 
("The  Eagle"),  and  Baruch  Werber,  Ha-'Ibri 
("The  Hebrew"). 

By  far  outstripping  all  these  in  importance  was 
the  first  Hebrew  journal  that  appeared  in  Russia, 
Ha-Meliz  ("The  Interpreter"),  founded  at 
Odessa  in  1860,  by  Alexander  Zederbaum,  one  of 
the  most  faithful  champions  of  humanism.  Ha- 
Meliz  became  the  principal  organ  of  the  move- 

162 


THE  REALISTS 

mcnt  for  emancipation,  and  the  spokesman  of  the 
Jewish  reformers. 

The  Hebrew  press  with  all  its  shortcomings,  and 
in  spite  of  its  meagre  resources,1  which  prevented 
it  from  securing  regular,  paid  contributors,  and 
left  it  at  the  mercy  of  an  irresponsible  set  of  ama- 
teurs, yet  exercised  considerable  influence  upon  the 
Jews  of  Russia.  Unremittingly  it  busied  itself 
with  the  spread  of  civilization,  knowledge,  and 
Hebrew  literature. 

In  the  large  centres,  especially  in  the  more  re- 
cently established  communities  in  the  south  of  Rus- 
sia, the  intellectual  emancipation  of  the  Jews  was 
an  accomplished  fact  at  an  early  day.  The  young 
people  streamed  to  the  schools,  and  applied  them- 
selves voluntarily  to  manual  trades.  The  profes- 
sional schools  and  the  Rabbinical  seminaries  es- 
tablished by  the  government  robbed  the  Hedarim 
and  the  Yeshibot  of  thousands  of  students.  The 
Russian  language,  hitherto  neglected,  began  to  dis- 
pute the  first  place  with  the  jargon  and  even  the 
Hebrew.  Wherever  the  breath  of  economic  and 
political  reforms  had  penetrated,  emancipation 
made  its  way,  and  without  encountering  serious 
opposition  on  the  part  of  traditional  Judaism. 

1  Sometimes  ten  readers  clubbed  together  for  one  subscription. 
163 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Wilna,  the  capital  of  Lithuania,  sorely  tried  by 
the  Polish  insurrection  of  1863,  and  intentionally 
excluded  by  the  government  from  the  benefits  of 
all  administrative  and  political  reforms,  did  not 
continue  to  be  the  centre  of  the  new  life  of  the  Rus- 
sian Jews,  as  it  had  been  of  their  old  life.  The 
"  Lithuanian  Jerusalem  "  had  put  aside  its  sceptre, 
and  it  lay  down  for  a  long  sleep,  with  dreams  of 
the  Haskalah,  "  twin-sister  of  faith  ".  As  Wilna 
has  since  that  time  witnessed  no  excesses  of  fanat- 
icism, so  also  it  has  not  known  an  intense  life,  the 
acrid  opposition  between  Haskalah  and  religion. 
It  remained  the  capital  of  the  moderate,  traditional 
attitude  and  religious  opportunism. 

By  way  of  compensation,  the  small  country 
towns  and  the  Talmudic  centres  in  Lithuania  put 
up  a  stubborn  resistance  to  the  new  reforms.  The 
poor  literary  folk  stranded  in  out-of-the-way  cor- 
ners far  removed  from  civilization  were  treated 
as  pernicious  heretics.  Nothing  could  stop  the 
fanatics  in  their  persecution,  and  they  had  recourse 
to  the  extremest  expedients.  Made  to  believe  that 
the  reformers  harbored  designs  against  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  Judaism,  the  people,  deluded 
and  erring,  thought  the  obscurantists  right  and  ap- 
plauded them,  while  they  rose  up  against  the 
modernizers  as  one  man. 

164 


THE  REALISTS 

The  opposition  between  humanism  and  the  re- 
ligious fanatics  degenerated  into  a  remorseless 
struggle.  The  early  Haskalah,  the  gentle,  celestial 
daughter  of  dreamers,  was  a  thing  of  the  past.  The 
educated  classes,  conscious  of  the  support  of  the 
authorities  and  of  the  public  opinion  prevailing  in 
the  centres  of  enlightenment,  became  aggressive, 
and  made  a  bold  attack  upon  the  course  and  ways 
of  the  traditionalists.  They  displayed  openly,  with 
bluntest  realism,  all  the  evils  that  were  corroding 
the  system  of  their  antagonists.  They  followed 
the  example  of  the  Russian  realistic  literature  of 
their  day,  in  exposing,  branding,  scourging,  and 
chastising  whatever  is  old  and  antiquated,  what- 
ever mutinies  against  the  modern  spirit.  Such  is 
the  character  of  the  realistic  literature  succeeding 
the  epoch  of  the  romanticists. 

The  signal  was  again  given  by  Abraham  Mapu, 
in  his  novel  descriptive  of  the  manners  of  the 
small  town,  'Aylt  Zabua  ("The  Hypocrite"), 
of  which  the  early  volumes  appeared  about  the 
year  1860,  at  Wilna.  In  view  of  the  growing  in- 
solence of  the  fanatics,  and  the  urgency  of  the  re- 
forms projected  by  the  government,  the  master  of 
Hebrew  romance  decided  to  abandon  the  poetic 
heights  to  which  his  dreams  had  been  soaring.  He 

165 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

threw  himself  into  the  scrimmage,  adding  the 
weight  of  his  authority  to  the  efforts  of  those  who 
were  carrying  on  the  combat  with  the  obscurantists. 
Even  in  his  historical  romances,  especially  in  the 
second  of  them,  he  had  permitted  his  hatred 
against  the  hypocrites  of  the  ghetto,  disguised  in 
the  skin  of  the  false  prophet  Zimri  and  his  emula- 
tors, to  make  itself  plainly  visible.  Now  he  un- 
masked them  in  full  view  of  all,  and  without  re- 
gard for  the  feelings  of  the  other  party. 

"  The  Hypocrite  "  is  an  ambitious  novel  in  five 
parts.  All  the  types  of  ghetto  fanatics  are  por- 
trayed with  the  crudest  realism.  The  most  promi- 
nent figure  is  Rabbi  Zadok,  canting,  unmannerly, 
lewd,  an  unscrupulous  criminal,  covering  his  mal- 
practices with  the  mantle  of  piety.  He  is  the  pro- 
totype of  all  the  Tartufes  of  the  ghetto,  who  play 
upon  the  ignorance  and  credulity  of  the  people. 
His  chief  follower,  Gadiel,  is  a  blind  fanatic,  an 
implacable  persecutor  of  all  who  do  not  share  his 
opinions,  the  enemy  of  Hebrew  literature,  embit- 
tering the  life  of  any  who  venture  to  read  a  modern 
publication.  Devoted  adherent  of  the  Haskalah 
as  he  was,  Mapu  was  not  sparing  of  paint  in  black- 
ening these  enemies  of  culture. 

Around  his  central  figure  a  large  number  of 

166 


THE  REALISTS 

characters  are  grouped,  each  personifying  a  type 
peculiar  to  the  Lithuanian  province.  The  darkest 
portrait  is  that  of  Gaal,  the  ignorant  upstart  who 
rules  the  whole  community,  and  makes  common 
cause  with  Rabbi  Zadok  and  his  followers.  The 
venality  of  the  officials  gives  the  heartless  parvenu 
free  scope  for  his  arbitrary  misdeeds,  and  without 
let  or  hindrance  he  persecutes  all  who  are  suspected 
of  modernizing  tendencies.  He  is  enveloped  in  an 
atmosphere  of  crime  and  terror.  Mapu  was  guilty 
of  overdrawing  his  characters;  he  exceeded  the 
limits  of  truth.  On  the  other  hand,  he  grows  more 
indulgent  and  more  veracious  when  he  describes 
the  life  of  the  humbler  denizens  of  the  ghetto. 

Jerahmeel,  the  Batlan,  is  a  finished  product. 
The  Batlan  is  a  species  unknown  outside  of  the 
ghetto.  In  a  sense,  he  is  the  bohemian  in  Jewry. 
His  distinguishing  traits  are  his  oddity  and  farcical 
ways.  Not  that  he  is  an  ignoramus — far  from  that. 
In  many  instances  he  is  an  erudite  Talmudist,  but 
his  simplicity,  his  absent-mindedness,  his  lack  of  all 
practical  sense,  incapacitate  him  from  undertaking 
anything,  of  whatever  nature  it  may  be.  He  is  a 
parasite,  and  by  reason  of  mere  inertia  he  becomes 
attached  to  the  enemies  of  progress. 

The  Shadhan,  the  influential  matrimonial  agent 
167 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

lacking  in  no  Jewish  community,  is  painted  true  to 
life.  Spiteful,  cunning,  witty,  even  learned,  he 
excels  in  the  art  of  bringing  together  the  eligibles 
of  the  two  sexes  and  unravelling  intricate  situations. 

The  most  sympathetic  figure  in  the  whole  novel 
is  the  honest  burgher.  Mapu  has  given  us  the 
idealization  of  the  large  class  of  humble  tradesmen 
who  have  been  well  grounded  in  the  Talmud,  who 
are  endowed  with  an  open  heart  for  every  generous 
feeling,  and  whose  good  common  sense  and  pro- 
foundly moral  character  the  congested  condition 
of  the  ghetto  has  not  succeeded  in  perverting. 

All  these  figures  represent  real  individuals,  liv- 
ing and  acting.  Mapu  has  without  a  doubt  exag- 
gerated reality,  and  frequently  to  the  detriment  of 
truth.  Nevertheless  they  remain  veracious  types. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  has  not  succeeded  so  well 
in  the  creation  of  the  Maskilim  type.  The  new 
generation,  the  enlightened  friends  of  culture,  are 
puppets  without  life,  without  personality,  who 
speak  and  move  only  for  the  purpose  of  glorifying 
the  "  Divine  Haskalah  ". 

Mapu's  conception  of  Jewish  life  can  be  summed 
up  in  two  phrases:  enlightened,  hence  good,  just, 
generous ;  fanatic,  hence  wicked,  hypocritical,  lewd, 
cowardly. 

168 


THE  REALISTS 

If  the  novel  on  account  of  its  treatment  of  the 
subject  has  some  claims  upon  the  description  real- 
istic, it  has  none  by  reason  of  its  form.  "  The 
Hypocrite  "  suffers  from  all  the  defects  of  Mapu's 
historical  romances,  which,  in  the  work  under  con- 
sideration, take  on  a  graver  aspect.  The  style  of 
Isaiah  and  poetic  flights  do  not  comport  well  with 
a  modern  subject  and  a  modern  environment. 
Herein,  again,  Mapu's  example  became  pernicious 
for  his  successors. 

When  the  novel  is  in  full  swing,  there  occurs  a 
series  of  letters  written  by  one  of  the  heroes  from 
Palestine.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  author  for  the 
Holy  Land  cannot  deny  itself,  and  this  unexpected 
Zionist  note,  in  a  purely  modern  work,  reveals  his 
soul  as  it  really  is,  the  soul  of  a  great  dreamer. 

It  was  after  the  appearance  of  Mapu's  "  Hypo- 
crite ",  in  the  year  1867,  that  Abraham  Bar  Le- 
bensohn  published,  at  Wilna,  his  drama  "  Truth 
and  Faith  ",  written  twenty  years  before,  in  which, 
also,  the  Tartufe  of  the  ghetto  plays  a  great  part. 

At  about  the  same  time  a  young  writer,  Solomon 
Jacob  Abramowitsch,  issued  his  realistic  novel  Ha- 
Abot  weha-Banim  ("  Fathers  and  Sons  ",  Zhito- 
mir, 1868).  Abramowitsch  had  already  acquired 
some  fame  by  a  natural  history  ( Toledot  ha-Teba) 

169 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

in  four  volumes,  in  which  he  taxed  his  ingenuity  to 
create  a  complete  nomenclature  for  zoology  in  He- 
brew. His  novel  is  a  failure.  The  subject  is  the 
antagonism  between  religious  fathers  and  emanci- 
pated sons,  and  the  action  takes  place  in  Hasidic 
surroundings.  There  is  nothing  to  betray  the  future 
master,  the  delicate  satirist,  the  admirable  painter 
of  manners.  Abramowitsch  then  turned  away  from 
Hebrew  for  a  while,  and  made  the  literary  fortune 
of  the  Jewish-German  jargon  by  writing  his  tales  of 
Jewish  life  in  it,  but  about  ten  years  ago  he  re- 
entered  the  ranks  of  the  writers  of  Hebrew,  and 
became  one  of  the  most  original  authors  handling 
the  sacred  language.  What  distinguishes  Abramo- 
witsch from  his  contemporaries  is  his  style.  He 
was  among  the  first  to  introduce  the  diction  of  the 
Talmud  and  the  Midrash  into  modern  Hebrew. 
The  result  is  a  picturesque  idiom,  to  which  the 
Talmudic  expressions  give  its  peculiar  charm. 
Though  it  continues  essentially  Biblical,  the  new 
element  in  it  puts  it  into  perfect  accord  with  the 
spirit  and  the  environment  it  is  called  upon  to 
depict.  It  lends  itself  marvellously  well  to  the 
description  of  the  life  and  manners  of  the  Jews 
of  Wolhynia,  the  province  which  forms  the  back- 
ground of  his  novels. 

170 


THE  REALISTS 


All  these  creators  of  a  Hebrew  realism  were 
outstripped  by  the  poet  Gordon,  who  expresses  the 
whole  of  his  agitated  epoch  in  his  own  person  alone. 


12  171 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  CONFLICT  WITH   RABBINISM 

JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

Judah  Leon  Gordon  (1830-1892)  was  born  at 
Wilna,  of  well-to-do  parents,  who  were  pious  and 
comparatively  enlightened.  As  was  customary  in 
his  day,  he  received  a  Rabbinical  education,  but  at 
the  same  time  he  was  not  permitted  to  neglect  the 
study  of  the  Bible  and  the  classical  Hebrew.  He 
was  a  brilliant  student,  and  all  circumstances 
pointed  to  his  future  eminence  as  a  Talmudist. 
The  academic  address  which  he  delivered  on  the 
occasion  of  his  Bar-Mizwah,  on  his  thirteenth 
birthday,  proclaimed  him  an  'Him,  and  he  was 
betrothed  to  the  daughter  of  a  rich  burgher. 

His  father's  financial  ruin  caused  the  rupture  of 
his  engagement,  and,  a  marriage  being  out  of  the 
question,  he  was  left  free  to  continue  his  studies  as 
he  would.  He  returned  to  Wilna,  the  first  centre 
of  the  Haskalah  in  Russia.  The  secular  literature 
couched  in  Hebrew  had  penetrated  to  the  very 

172 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

synagogue,  if  not  openly,  at  least  by  the  back  door. 
In  secret  Gordon  devoured  all  the  modern  writings 
that  fell  in  his  hands.  It  was  the  time  of  the  elder 
Lebensohn,  when  he  stood  at  the  summit  of  his 
fame  and  influence.  Very  soon  Gordon  perceived 
that  the  study  of  Hebrew  is  not  sufficient  for  the 
equipment  of  a  man  of  learning  and  cultivation. 
Under  the  guidance  of  an  intelligent  kinsman,  he 
studied  German,  Russian,  French,  and  Latin,  one 
of  the  first  Hebrew  writers  to  become  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  Russian  literature.  He  devoted 
much  time  to  the  study  of  Hebrew  philology  and 
grammar,  and  he  was  justly  reputed  a  distinguished 
connoisseur  of  the  language.  Both  his  linguistic 
researches  and  his  new  linguistic  formations  in 
Hebrew  are  extremely  valuable. 

The  muse  visited  him  early,  and  by  his  first 
attempts  at  poetry  he  earned  the  good-will  and 
favor  of  Lebensohn  the  father  and  the  friendship 
of  Lebensohn  the  son.  In  his  youthful  fervor,  he 
offers  enthusiastic  admiration  to  the  older  man,  and 
proclaims  himself  his  disciple.  But  it  was  the 
younger  poet,  Micah  Joseph,  who  exerted  the 
greater  influence  upon  him.  A  little  drama  dedi- 
cated to  the  memory  of  the  poet  snatched  away 
in  the  prime  of  his  years  shows  the  depth  and  ten- 
derness of  Gordon's  affection  for  him. 

173 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

All  this  time  Gordon  did  not  cease  to  be  a  stu- 
dent. In  1852  he  passed  his  final  examinations, 
graduating  him  from  the  Rabbinical  Seminary  at 
Wilna,  and  he  was  appointed  teacher  at  a  Jewish 
government  school  at  Poneviej,  a  small  town  in  the 
Government  of  Kowno.  Successively  he  was  trans- 
ferred from  town  to  town  in  the  same  district. 
Twenty  years  of  wrangling  with  fanatics  and 
teaching  of  children  in  the  most  backward  prov- 
ince of  Lithuania  did  not  arrest  his  literary  activity. 
In  1872  he  was  called  to  the  post  of  secretary  to 
the  Jewish  community  of  St.  Petersburg  and  sec- 
retary to  the  recently  formed  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Culture  among  the  Jews  of  Russia. 
Thenceforward  his  material  needs  were  provided 
for,  and  he  held  an  assured,  independent  position. 
Denounced  in  1879  as  a  political  conspirator,  he 
was  thrown  into  prison,  with  the  result  that  he 
suffered  considerable  financial  loss  and  irreparable 
physical  injury.  His  innocence  was  established, 
and,  having  been  set  free,  he  became  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  journal  Ha-Meliz,  the  Hebrew  peri- 
odical with  the  largest  circulation  at  the  time.  But 
the  disease  he  had  contracted  ate  away  his  strength, 
and  he  died  a  victim  of  the  Russian  espionage 
system. 

174 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

As  was  said,  the  young  poet  followed  in  the 
tracks  of  the  two  Lebensohns.  In  1857  he  pub- 
lished his  first  ambitious  poem,  Ahabat  David  u- 
Michal,1  the  product  of  a  nai've  dreamer,  who 
swears  a  solemn  oath  to  "  remain  the  slave  of  the 
Hebrew  language  forever,  and  consecrate  all  his 
life  to  it  ".  "  David  and  Michal  "  rehearses  poet- 
ically the  tale  of  the  shepherd's  love  for  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  king.  The  poet  carries  us  back  to 
Biblical  times.  He  tells  us  how  the  daughter  of 
Saul  is  enamored  of  tlie  young  shepherd  summoned 
to  the  royal  court  to  dispel  the  king's  melancholy. 
Jealousy  springs  up  in  the  heart  of  Saul,  and  he 
takes  umbrage  at  the  popularity  of  David.  Before 
granting  him  the  hand  of  his  daughter,  he  imposes 
superhuman  tests  upon  the  young  suitor,  which 
would  seem  to  doom  him  to  certain  death.  But 
David  emerges  from  every  trial  with  glory,  and 
returns  triumphant.  The  king  is  mastered  by  con- 
suming jealousy,  and  in  his  anger  pursues  David 
relentlessly.  David  is  obliged  to  flee,  and  Michal 
is  given  to  his  rival.  The  friendship  of  David  and 
Jonathan  is  depicted  in  touching  words.  Finally 
David  prevails,  and  he  is  anointed  king  over 

lrrhe  collected   poems  of  Gordon  appeared,   in  four  volumes, 
in  1884,  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  in  six  volumes,  in  1900,  at  Wilna. 

175 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Israel.  He  takes  Michal  back  unto  himself,  love 
being  stronger  than  the  sense  of  injury.  The  shame 
of  the  past  is  forgotten.  But  the  poor  victim  is 
never  to  know  the  joy  of  bearing  a  child — Michal 
remains  barren  until  the  last,  and  leads  a  solitary 
existence.  Old  and  forgotten,  she  passes  out  of 
life  on  the  very  day  of  David's  death. 

In  this  simple,  pure  drama,  the  influence  of 
Schiller  and  of  Micah  Joseph  Lebensohn  is  clearly 
seen.  But  real  feeling  for  nature  and  real  under- 
standing of  the  emotion  of  love  are  lacking  in 
Gordon.  His  descriptions  of  nature  are  a  pale  re- 
tracing of  the  pictures  of  the  romanticists.  Poet 
of  the  ghetto  as  he  was,  he  knew  neither  nature  at 
first  hand,  nor  love,  nor  art.2  His  poems  of  love 
are  destitute  of  the  personal  note.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  point  of  classic  style  and  the  modern 
polish  of  his  verses,  he  outdistances  all  who  pre- 
ceded him.  Lebensohn  the  younger  removed  from 
the  arena,  Gordon  attained  the  first  place  among 
Hebrew  poets. 

In  "  David  and  Barzillai  ",  the  poet  contrasts 
the  tranquillity  of  the  shepherd's  life  with  that  of 
the  king.  Gordon  was  happily  inspired  by  the 

"The  first  collection  of  his  lyrics  and  his  epic  poems  appeared 
at  Wilna,  in  1866,  under  the  title  Shire  Yehudah. 

176 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

desire  for  outdoor  life  that  had  sprung  up  in  the 
ghetto  since  Mapu's  warm  praise  of  rural  scenes 
and  pleasures,  and  also  under  the  influence  of  the 
Jewish  agricultural  colonies  founded  in  Russia.  He 
shows  us  the  aged  king,  crushed  under  a  load  of 
hardships,  betrayed  by  his  own  son,  standing  face 
to  face  with  the  old  shepherd,  who  refuses  royal 
gifts. 

"  And    David    reigned   as    Israel's   head, 
And  Barzillai  his  flocks  to  pasture  led." 

The  charm  of  this  Kttle  poem  lies  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  land  of  Gilead.  It  seems  that  in  re- 
viving the  past,  the  Hebrew  poets  were  often 
vouchsafed  remarkable  insight  into  nature  and 
local  coloring,  which  ordinarily  was  not  a  charac- 
teristic of  theirs.  The  same  warmth  and  historical 
verisimilitude  is  found  again  in  Asenath  Bat-Poti- 
pherah. 

From  the  same  period  dates  the  first  volume  of 
fables  by  Gordon,  published  at  Vienna,  in  1860, 
under  the  title  Mishle  Yehudah,  forming  the 
second  part  of  his  collected  poems,  and  being  itself 
divided  into  four  books.  It  consists  of  translations, 
or,  better,  imitations  of  ^?Esop,  La  Fontaine,  and 
Kryloff,  together  with  fables  drawn  from  the  Mid- 
177 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

rash.  The  style  is  concise  and  telling,  and  the 
satire  is  keen. 

The  production  of  these  fables  marks  a  turning- 
point  in  the  work  of  Gordon.  Snatched  out  of  the 
indulgent  and  conciliatory  surroundings  in  which 
he  had  developed,  he  found  himself  face  to  face 
with  the  sad  reality  of  Jewish  life  in  the  provinces. 
The  invincible  fanaticism  of  the  Rabbis,  the  ana- 
chronistic education  given  the  children,  who  were 
kept  in  a  state  of  ignorance,  weighed  "heavily  upon 
the  heart  of  the  patriot  and  man  of  intellect.  It 
was  the  time  in  which  liberal  ideas  and  European 
civilization  had  penetrated  into  Russia  under  the 
protection  of  Czar  Alexander  II,  and  Gordon 
yearned  to  see  his  Russian  co-religionists  occupy  a 
position  similar  to  that  enjoyed  by  their  brethren 
in  the  West. 

Those  envied  Jews  of  the  West  had  had  a 
proper  understanding  of  the  exigencies  of  their 
time.  They  had  liberated  themselves  from  the 
yoke  of  Rabbinism,  and  had  assimilated  with  their 
fellow-citizens  of  other  faiths.  The  Russian  gov- 
ernment encouraged  the  spread  of  education  among 
the  Jews,  and  granted  privileges  to  such  as  profited 
by  the  opportunities  offered.  The  reformers  were 
strengthened  also  by  the  support  of  the  newly- 

178 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

founded  Hebrew  journals.  Gordon  threw  him- 
self deliberately  into  the  fracas.  Poetry  and  prose, 
Hebrew  and  Russian,  all  served  him  to  champion 
the  cause  of  the  Haskalah.  With  him  the  Has- 
kalah  was  no  longer  limited  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  Hebrew  language  and  to  the  writing  of  philo- 
sophical treatises.  It  had  become  an  undisguised 
conflict  with  obscurantism,  ignorance,  a  time-worn 
routine,  and  all  that  barred  the  way  to  culture. 
Since  the  government  permitted  the  Jews  to  enter 
the  social  life  of  the  Country,  and  seeing  that  they 
might  in  the  future  aspire  to  a  better  lot,  the  Has- 
kalah should  and  would  work  to  prepare  them  for 
it  and  make  them  worthy  of  it. 

In  1863,  after  the  liberation  of  the  serfs  in  Rus- 
sia,   Gordon    uttered    a    thrilling    cry,    Hakizah 


"  Awake,  O  my  people  !  How  long  wilt  thou  slumber  ?  Lo, 
the  night  has  vanished,  the  sun  shines  bright.  Open  thy  eyes, 
look  hither  and  thither.  I  pray  thee,  see  in  what  place  thou  art, 
in  what  time  thou  livest  !  .  .  .  . 

"  The  land  wherein  we  were  born,  wherein  we  live,  is  it  not 
part  of  Europe,  the  most  civilized  of  all  continents?  .... 

"  This  land,  Eden  itself,  behold,  it  is  open  unto  thee,  its  sons 
welcome  thee  as  brother  .....  Thou  hast  but  to  apply  thy 
heart  to  wisdom  and  knowledge,  become  a  public-spirited  people, 
and  speak  their  tongue  !  " 

179 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

In  another  poem,  the  writer  acclaims  the  dawn 
of  a  new  time  for  the  Jews.  Their  zeal  to  enter 
the  liberal  professions  augurs  well  for  a  speedy 
and  complete  emancipation. 

We  have  seen  how  stubborn  a  resistance  was 
opposed  by  the  orthodox  to  this  new  phase  of  the 
Haskalah.  Terror  seized  upon  them  when  they 
saw  the  young  desert  the  religious  schools  and  give 
themselves  up  to  profane  studies.  As  for  the  new 
Rabbinical  seminaries,  they  regarded  them  as  out- 
right nurseries  of  atheism. 

However,  the  government  standing  on  the  side 
of  the  reformers,  the  orthodox  could  not  fight  in 
the  open.  They  entrenched  themselves  behind  a 
passive  resistance.  In  this  struggle,  as  was  observed 
above,  Gordon  occupied  the  foremost  place. 
Thenceforth  a  single  idea  animated  him,  opposi- 
tion to  the  enemies  of  light.  His  bitter,  trenchant 
sarcasm,  his  caustic,  vengeful  pen,  were  put  at  the 
service  of  this  cause.  Even  his  historical  poems 
quiver  with  his  resentment.  He  loses  no  opportu- 
nity to  scourge  the  Rabbis  and  their  conservative 
adherents. 

Ben  Shinne  Arayot  ("  Between  the  Teeth  of  the 
Lions  ")  is  an  historical  poem  on  a  subject  con- 
nected with  the  Judeo-Roman  wars.  The  hero, 

180 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

Simon  the  Zealot,  is  taken  captive  by  Titus.  At 
the  moment  of  succumbing  in  the  arena,  his  eyes 
meet  those  of  his  beloved  Martha,  sold  by  the 
enemy  as  a  slave,  and  the  two  expire  at  the  same 
time. 

The  poem  is  a  masterpiece  by  reason  of  the 
truly  poetic  inspiration  that  informs  it,  and  the 
deep  national  feeling  expressed  in  it.  But  Gordon 
did  not  stop  at  that.  He  makes  use  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  attack  Rabbinism  in  its  vital  beginnings, 
wherein  he  discerns  the,  cause  of  his  nation's  peril. 

"  Woe  is  thee,  O  Israel !  Thy  teachers  have  not  taught  thee 
how  to  conduct  war  with  skill  and  strategem. 

"  Rebellion  and  bravery,  of  what  avail  are  they  without  disci- 
pline and  tactics! 

"  True,  for  many  long  centuries,  they  led  thee,  and  con- 
structed houses  of  learning  for  thee — but  what  did  they  teach 
thee? 

"What  accomplished  they?  They  but  sowed  the  wind,  and 
ploughed  the  rock,  drew  water  in  a  sieve,  and  threshed  empty 
straw ! 

"  They  taught  thee  to  run  counter  to  life,  to  isolate  thyself 
betwen  walls  of  precepts  and  prescriptions,  to  be  dead  on  earth 
and  alive  in  heaven,  to  walk  about  in  a  dream  and  speak  in  thy 
sleep. 

"  Thus  thy  spirit  grew  faint,  thy  strength  dried  up,  and  the 
dust  of  thy  scribes  has  sepulchred  thee,  a  living  mummy 

"  Woe  is  thee,  O  Jerusalem  that  art  lost !  " 
181 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Yet,  though  he  accuses  Rabbinism  of  all  possible 
ills  that  have  befallen  the  Jewish  people,  it  does 
not  follow  that  he  justifies  the  Roman  invasion. 
All  his  wrath  is  aroused  against  Rome,  the  peren- 
nial enemy  of  Judaism.  In  the  name  of  humanity 
and  justice,  he  pours  out  his  scorn  over  her.  The 
first  he  presents  is  Titus,  "  the  delight  of  man- 
kind ",  preparing  brilliant  but  sanguinary  specta- 
cles for  his  people,  and  revelling  in  the  sight  of 
innocent  blood  shed  in  the  gladiators'  arena.  Then 
he  arraigns  Rome  herself,  "  the  great  people  who 
is  mistress  of  three-quarters  of  the  earth,  the  terror 
of  the  world,  whose  triumph  can  know  no  limit 
now  that  she  has  carried  off  the  victory  over  a 
people  destined  to  perish,  whose  territory  can  be 
covered  in  a  five  hours'  march  ".  And  finally  his 
Jewish  heart  is  revolted  by  "  the  noble  matrons 
followed  by  their  servants,  whose  tender  soul  is 
about  to  take  delight  in  the  bloody  sights  of  the 
arena  ". 

Bi-Mezulot  Yam  ("In  the  Depths  of  the  Sea") 
revives  a  terrible  episode  of  the  exodus  of  the  Jews 
from  Spain  (1492).  The  refugees  embarked  on 
pirate  vessels,  where  they  were  exploited  pitilessly. 
The  cupidity  of  the  corsairs  is  insatiable.  After 
despoiling  the  Jews  of  all  they  own,  they  sell  them 

182 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

as  slaves  or  cast  them  into  the  water.  This  is  the 
lot  that  threatens  to  overtake  a  group  of  exiles  on 
a  certain  ship.  But  the  captain  falls  in  love  with 
the  daughter  of  a  Rabbi,  a  maiden  of  rare  beauty. 
To  rescue  her  companions,  she  pretends  to  yield 
to  the  solicitations  of  the  captain,  who  promises 
to  land  the  passengers  safe  and  sound  on  the  coast. 
He  keeps  his  word,  but  the  girl  and  her  mother 
must  stay  with  him.  At  a  distance  from  the  coast, 
the  two  women,  with  prayers  to  God  upon  their 
lips,  throw  themselves  jnto  the  sea,  to  save  the  girl 
from  having  to  surrender  herself  to  the  desires  of 
the  corsair.  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of 
Gordon's  poems.  Indignation  and  grief  inspire 
such  words  as  these : 

"  The  daughter  of  Jacob  is  banished  from  every  foot  of 
Spanish  soil.  Portugal  also  has  thrust  her  out.  Europe  turns 
her  back  upon  the  unfortunates.  She  grants  them  only  the  grave, 
martyrdom,  hell.  Their  bones  are  strewn  upon  the  rocks  of 

Africa.     Their  blood  floods   the  shores  of  Asia And   the 

Judge  of  the  world  appeareth  not !  And  the  tears  of  the  op- 
pressed are  not  avenged  !  " 

What  revolts  the  poet  above  all  is  the  thought 
that  the  downtrodden  victims  will  never  have  their 
revenge — all  the  crimes  against  them  will  go  un- 
punished : 

183 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

"  Never,  O  Israel,  wilt  thou  be  avenged !  Power  is  with  thy 
oppressors.  What  they  desire  they  accomplish,  what  they  do, 
prospereth Spain — did  her  vessels  not  set  forth  and  dis- 
cover the  New  World,  the  day  thou  wast  driven  out  a  fugitive 
and  outlaw?  And  Portugal,  did  she  not  find  the  way  to  the 
Indies?  And  in  that  far-off  country,  too,  she  ruined  the  land 
that  welcomed  thy  refugees.  Yea,  Spain  and  Portugal  stand 
unassailed ! " 

But  if  vengeance  is  withheld  from  the  Jews,  im- 
placable hatred  takes  possession  of  all  hearts,  and 
never  will  it  be  appeased. 

"  Enjoin  it  upon  your  children  until  the  end  of  days.  Adjure 
your  descendants,  the  great  and  the  little,  never  to  return  to  the 
land  of  Spain,  reddened  with  your  blood,  never  again  to  set  foot 
upon  the  Pyrenean  peninsula !  " 

The  despair,  the  grief  of  the  poet  are  concen- 
trated in  the  last  stanzas,  telling  how  the  maiden 
and  her  mother  throw  themselves  into  the  water: 

"  Only  the  Eye  of  the  World,  silently  looking  through  the 
clouds,  the  eye  that  witnesseth  the  end  of  all  things,  views  the 
ruin  of  these  thousands  of  beings,  and  it  sheds  not  a  single  tear." 

His  last  historical  poem,  "  King  Zedekiah  in 
Prison  ",  dates  from  the  period  when  the  poet's 
skepticism  was  a  confirmed  temper  of  mind.  Ac- 
cording to  Gordon,  the  ruin  of  the  Jewish  State 
was  brought  about  by  the  weight  given  to  moral 

184 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

as  compared  with  political  considerations.  He  no 
longer  contents  himself  with  attacking  Rabbinism, 
he  goes  back  to  the  very  principles  of  the  Judaism 
of  the  prophets.  These  are  the  ideas  which  he 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  King  of  Judah,  the  cap- 
tive of  Nebuchadnezzar.  He  makes  him  the  advo- 
cate of  the  claims  of  political  power  as  against  the 
moralist  pretensions  of  the  prophets. 

The  king  passes  all  his  misfortunes  in  review, 
and  he  asks  himself  to  what  cause  they  are  attrib- 
utable. 

"  Because  I  did  not  submit  to  the  will  of  Jeremiah  ?     But  what 
was  it  that  the  priest  of  Anathoth  required  of  me  to  do?  " 

No,  the  king  cannot  concede  that  "  the  City 
would  still  be  standing  if  her  inhabitants  had  not 
borne  burdens  on  the  Sabbath  day  ". 

The  prophet  proclaims  the  rule  of  the  letter  and 
of  the  Law,  supreme  over  work  and  war,  but  can 
a  people  of  dreamers  and  visionaries  exist  a  single 
day? 

The  king  does  not  stop  at  such  rebellious 
thoughts.  He  remembers  all  too  well  the  story  of 
Saul  and  Samuel — how  the  king  was  castigated  for 
having  resisted  the  whims  of  the  prophets. 

1  Thus  the  seers  and  prophets  have  always 
sought  to  crush  the  kings  in  Israel  ",  he  maintains. 

185 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

"  Alas !  I  see  that  the  words  of  the  son  of  Hilkiah  will  be  ful- 
filled -^yithout  fail.  The  Law  will  stand,  the  kingdom  will  be 
ruinedj  The  book,  the  word — they  will  succeed  to  the  royal 
sceptra  I  foresee  a  whole  people  of  scholars  and  teachers,  de- 
generlte  folk  and  feeble." 

Hhis  amazing  view,  so  disconcerting  to  the 
pr/phet-people,  Gordon  held  to  the  very  end.  And 
feing  that  the  Law  had  killed  the  nation,  and  a 
fruel  fatality  dogged  the  footsteps  of  the  people 
the  Book,  would  it  not  be  best  to  free  the  indi- 
viduals from  the  chains  of  the  faith  and  liberate 
the  masses  from  the  minute  religious  ceremonial 
that  has  obstructed  their  path  to  life?  This  was 
the  task  Gordon  set  himself  for  the  rest  of  his  days. 
In  a  poem  inscribed  to  Smolenskin,  the  editor  of 
Ha-Shahar  ("  Daybreak  "),  on  the  occasion  of  the 
periodical's  resuming  publication  after  an  interval, 
the  poet  poured  forth  his  afflicted  soul,  and  pointed 
out  the  aim  he  had  decided  to  pursue : 

"  Once  upon  a  time  I  sang  of  love,  too,  and  pleasure,  and 
friendship;  I  announced  the  advent  of  days  of  joy,  liberty,  and 
hope.  The  strings  of  my  lyre  thrilled  with  emotion 

"  But  yonder  comes  Ha-Shahar  again,  and  I  shall  attune  my 
harp  to  hail  the  break  of  day. 

"  Alas,  I  am  no  more  the  same,  I  know  not  how  to  sing,  I 
waken  naught  but  grief.  Disquieting  dreams  trouble  my  nights. 

They  show  me  my  people  face  to  face They  show  me  my 

186 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

people  in  all  its  abasement,  with  all  its  unprobed  wounds.  They 
reveal  to  me  the  iniquity  that  is  the  source  of  all  its  ills. 

"  I  see  its  leaders  go  astray,  and  its  teachers  deceiving  it. 
My  heart  bleeds  with  grief.  The  strings  of  my  lyre  groan,  my 
song  is  a  lament. 

"Since  that  day  I  sing  no  more  of  joy  and  solace;  I  hope  no 
more  for  the  light,  I  wait  no  more  for  liberty.  I  sing  only  of 
bitter  days,  I  foretell  everlasting  slavery,  degradation,  and  no 
end.  And  from  the  strings  of  my  lyre  tears  gush  forth  for  the 
ruin  of  my  people. 

"  Since  that  day  my  muse  is  black  as  a  raven,  her  mouth  is 
filled  with  abuse,  from  her  tongue  drops  complaint.  She  groans 
like  the  Bat-Kol  upon  Mojjnt  Horeb's  ruins.  She  cries  out 
against  the  wicked  shepherds,  against  the  sottish  people. 

"  She  recounts  unto  God,  unto  all  the  human  kind,  the  degrad- 
ing miseries  of  a  hand-to-mouth  existence,  of  the  soul  that 
pierces  to  the  depths  of  evil." 

But  the  patriotism  of  the  poet  carries  the  day 
over  his  discouragement: 

"  From  pity  for  my  people,  from  compassion,  I  will  tell  unto 
its  shepherds  their  crimes,  unto  its  teachers  the  error  of  their 
ways." 

Will  he  succeed  in  his  purpose  ?  Is  not  all  hope 
lost?  No  matter,  he  at  least  will  do  his  duty  until 
the  end : 

"  From  every  part  of  the  Law,  from  every  retreat  of  the  people, 
I    shall    gather    together   all    vain    teachings,    all    the    poisonous 
13  187 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

vipers,  wherever  they  may  be,  and  in  the  sight  of  all  suspend 
them  like  a  banner.  Let  the  wounded  look  upon  them,  perhaps 
they  will  be  cured — perhaps  there  is  still  healing  for  their  ills, 
perhaps  there  is  still  life  in  them !  " 

The  poet  kept  his  word.  In  a  series  of  satires, 
fables,  and  epistles,  he  reveals  the  moral  plagues 
that  eat  into  the  fabric  of  Jewish  society  in  the  Slav 
countries.  He  gives  a  realistic  description,  at  once 
accurate  and  subjective,  of  an  extraordinary  milieu, 
lacking  plausibility  though  it  existed  and  defied  all 
opposition.  Gordon  descended  to  the  innermost 
depths  of  the  people's  soul,  he  knew  its  profoundest 
secrets.  He  caught  the  spirit  of  the  peculiar  man- 
ners of  the  ghetto  and  reproduced  them  with  un- 
failing fidelity.  Also  he  knew  all  the  dishonor  of 
some  of  the  persons  who  ruled  its  society,  and  he 
sounded  their  mean,  crafty  brains.  His  heart  was 
filled  with  indignation  at  the  painful  spectacle  he 
himself  bodied  forth,  and  he  suffered  the  misfor- 
tunes of  his  people. 

His  poetic  manner  changed  with  the  new  direc- 
tion taken  by  his  mind.  He  was  no  more  an  artist 
for  art's  sake.  Classical  purity  ceased  to  interest 
him.  What  he  pursued  above  all  things  was  an 
object  which  can  be  reached  only  by  struggle  and 
propaganda.  His  style  became  more  realistic.  He 

188 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

saturated  it  with  Talmudic  terms  and  phrases, 
thus  adapting  it  more  closely  to  the  spirit  of  the 
scenes  and  things  and  acts  he  was  occupied  with, 
and  making  it  the  proper  medium  for  the  descrip- 
tion of  a  world  that  was  Rabbinical  in  all  essential 
points.  But  Gordon  never  went  to  excess  in  the 
use  of  Talmudisms;  he  always  maintained  a  just 
sense  of  proportion.  It  requires  discriminating 
taste  to  appreciate  his  style,  now  delicate  and  now 
sarcastic,  by  turns  appealing  and  vehement.  Here 
Gordon  displayed  the  whole  range  of  his  talent, 
all  his  creative  powers.  The  language  he  uses  is 
the  genuine  modern  Hebrew,  a  polished  and  ex- 
pressive medium,  yielding  in  naught  to  the  clas- 
sical Hebrew. 

The  social  condition  of  the  Jewish  woman,  the 
saddest  conceivable  in  the  ghetto,  inspired  the  first 
of  Gordon's  satires.  The  poem  is  entitled  "  The 
Dot  on  the  I  ",  or,  more  literally,  "  The  Hanger 
of  the  Yod  "  (#020  shel  Yod). 

"  O  thou,  Jewish  Woman,  who  knows  thy  life !  Unnoticed 
thou  enterest  the  world,  unnoticed  thou  departest  from  it. 

"  Thy  heart-aches  and  thy  joys,  thy  sorrows  and  thy  desires 
spring  up  within  thee  and  die  within  thee. 

"  All  the  good  things  of  this  life,  its  pleasures,  its  enjoyments, 
they  were  created  for  the  daughters  of  the  other  nations.  The 

189 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Jewish  woman's  life  is  naught  but  servitude,  toil  without  end. 
Thou  conceivest,  thou  bearest,  thou  givest  suck,  thou  weanest 
thy  babes,  thou  bakest,  thou  cookest,  and  thou  witherest  before 
thy  time. 

"  Vain  for  thee  to  be  dowered  with  an  impressionable  heart, 
to  be  beautiful,  gentle,  intelligent ! 

"  The  Law  in  thy  mouth  is  turned  to  foolishness,  beauty  in 

thee  is  a  taint,  every  gift  a  fault,  all  knowledge  a  defect 

Thou  art  but  a  hen  good  to  raise  a  brood  of  chicks !  " 

It  is  vain  for  a  Jewish  woman  to  cherish  aspira- 
tions after  life,  after  knowledge — nothing  of  all 
this  is  accessible  to  her. 

"  The  planting  of  the  Lord  wastes  away  in  a  desert  land  with- 
out having  seen  the  light  of  the  sun 

"  Before  thou  becomest  conscious  of  thy  soul,  before  thou 
knowest  aught,  thou  art  given  in  marriage,  thou  art  a  mother. 

"  Before  thou  hast  learnt  to  be  a  daughter  to  thy  parents,  thou 
art  a  wife,  and  mother  to  children  of  thine  own. 

"  Thou  art  betrothed — knowest  thou  him  for  whom  thou  art 
destined?  Dost  thou  love  him?  Yea,  hast  thou  seen  him? — 
Love !  Thou  unhappy  being !  Knowest  thou  not  that  to  the 
heart  of  a  Jewish  woman  love  is  prohibited? 

"  Forty  days  before  thy  birth,  thy  mate  and  life  companion 
was  assigned  to  thee.8 

"  Cover  thy  head,  cut  off  thy  braids  of  hair.  Of  what  avail 
to  look  at  him  who  stands  beside  thee?  Is  he  hunchbacked  or 

3  According  to  popular  belief,  it  is  decided  forty  days  before 
its  birth  to  whom  a  child  will  be  married. 

190 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

one-eyed?  Is  he  young  or  old?  What  matters  it?  Not  thou 
hast  chosen,  but  thy  parents,  they  rule  over  thee,  like  merchan- 
dise thou  passest  from  hand  to  hand." 

Slave  to  her  parents,  slave  to  her  husband,  she 
is  not  permitted  to  taste  even  the  joys  of  mother- 
hood in  peace.  Unforeseen  misfortunes  assail  her 
and  lay  her  low.  Her  husband,  without  an  educa- 
tion, without  a  profession,  often  without  a  heart, 
finds  himself  suddenly  at  odds  with  life,  after  hav- 
ing eaten  at  the  table  and  lodged  in  the  house  of 
his  wife's  parents  for  a^number  of  years  following 
his  marriage,  as  is  customary  among  the  Jews  of 
the  Slavic  countries.  If  no  chance  of  success  pre- 
sents itself  soon,  he  grows  weary,  abandons  his 
wife  and  children,  and  goes  off  no  one  knows 
whither,  without  a  sign  of  his  whereabouts,  and  she 
remains  behind,  an  'Agunah,  a  forsaken  wife, 
widowed  without  being  a  widow,  most  unfortunate 
of  unfortunate  creatures. 

"  This  is  the  history  of  all  Jewish  women,  and  it  is  the  history 
of  Bath-shua  the  beautiful." 

Bath-shua  is  a  noble  creature,  endowed  by  nature 
with  all  fine  qualities — she  is  beautiful,  intelligent, 
pure,  good,  attractive,  and  an  excellent  house- 
keeper. She  is  admired  by  everybody.  Even  the 

191 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

miserable  Parush,  the  recluse  student,  conceals  him- 
self behind  the  railing  that  divides  the  women's 
gallery  from  the  rest  of  the  synagogue,  to  steal  a 
look  at  her.  Alas,  this  flower  of  womankind  is 
betrothed  by  her  father  to  a  certain  Hillel,  a  sour 
specimen,  ugly,  stupid,  repulsive.  But  he  knows 
the  Talmud  by  heart,  folio  by  folio,  and  to  say 
that  is  to  say  everything.  The  marriage  comes  off 
in  due  time,  the  young  couple  eat  at  the  table  of 
Bath-shua's  parents  for  three  years,  and  two  chil- 
dren spring  from  the  union. 

The  wife's  father  loses  his  fortune,  and  Hillel 
must  earn  his  own  livelihood.  Incapable  as  he  is, 
he  finds  nothing  to  do,  and  he  goes  to  foreign  parts 
to  seek  his  fortunes.  Never  is  he  heard  of  again. 
Bath-shua  remains  behind  alone  with  her  two  chil- 
dren. By  painful  toil,  she  earns  her  bread  with  un- 
failing courage.  All  the  love  of  her  rich  nature 
she  pours  out  upon  her  children,  whom  by  a 
supreme  effort  she  dresses  and  adorns  like  the  chil- 
dren of  the  wealthy. 

Meantime  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Fabi 
makes  his  appearance  in  the  little  town.  He  is  the 
type  of  the  modern  Jew,  educated  and  intelligent, 
and  he  is  handsome  and  generous  besides.  He 
begins  by  taking  an  interest  in  the  young  woman, 

192 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

and  ends  by  falling  in  love  with  her.  Bath-shua 
does  not  dare  believe  in  her  happiness.  But  an 
insurmountable  obstacle  lies  in  the  path  of  their 
union.  Bath-shua  is  not  divorced  from  her  hus- 
band, and  none  can  tell  whether  he  is  dead  or  alive. 
Energetically  Fabi  undertakes  to  find  the  hiding- 
place  of  the  faithless  man.  He  traces  him,  and 
bribes  him  to  give  his  wife  a  divorce.  The  official 
document,  properly  drawn  up  and  attested  by  a 
Rabbinical  authority,  is  sent  to  her.  Hillel  em- 
barks for  America,  andjiis  vessel  suffers  shipwreck. 

Finally,  it  would  seem,  Bath-shua  will  enjoy  the 
happiness  she  has  amply  merited.  Alas,  no!  In 
the  person  of  Rabbi  Wofsi,  fortune  plays  her  an- 
other trick.  This  Rabbi  is  a  rigid  legalist,  the 
slightest  of  slips  suffices  to  render  the  divorce  in- 
valid. According  to  certain  commentators  the 
name  Hillel  is  spelled  incorrectly  in  the  document. 
After  the  He  a  Yod  is  missing !  Thus  is  the  hap- 
piness glimpsed  by  Bath-shua  shattered  forever! 

Her  fate  is  not  unique — the  Bath-shuas  are 
counted  by  the  legion  in  the  ghetto.  And  there 
are  other  fates  no  less  poignant  caused  by  reasons 
no  less  futile. 

In  another  poem,  Ashakka  de-Rispak  ("The 
Shaft  of  the  Wagon  ",  meaning  "  For  a  Trifle  "), 

193 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

the  poet  tells  how  the  peace  of  a  household  was 
undermined  on  account  of  a  barley  grain  discovered 
by  accident  in  the  soup  at  the  Passover  meal,  which 
must  be  free  from  every  trace  of  fermented  food. 
Brooding  over  the  incident  and  filled  with  remorse 
for  having  served  the  doubtful  soup  to  her  family, 
the  poor  woman  runs  to  the  Rabbi,  who  decides 
that  she  has,  indeed,  caused  her  family  to  eat  pro- 
hibited food,  and  the  dishes  in  which  it  was  pre- 
pared and  served  must  be  broken,  they  cannot  be 
used,  they  may  not  even  be  sold.  But  the  husband, 
a  simple  carter,  does  not  accept  the  decision  tran- 
quilly. He  vents  his  anger  upon  the  woman.  The 
peace  of  the  house  is  troubled,  and  finally  the  man 
repudiates  his  wife. 

The  poet  fulminates  against  the  Rabbis  and 
their  narrow,  senseless  interpretations  of  texts. 

"  Slaves  we  were  in  the  land  of  Egypt  ....  And  what  are 
we  now?  Do  we  not  sink  lower  from  year  to  year?  Are  we 
not  bound  with  ropes  of  absurdities,  with  cords  of  quibbles,  with 
all  sorts  of  prejudices?  ....  The  stranger  no  longer  oppresses 
us,  our  despots  are  the  progeny  of  our  own  bodies.  Our  hands 
are  no  longer  manacled,  but  our  soul  is  in  chains." 

In  the  last  of  his  great  satires,  ' '  The  Two 
Joseph-ben-Simons  ",  Gordon  gives  a  sombre  and 
at  the  same  time  lofty  picture  of  the  manners  of 

194 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

the  ghetto,  an  exact  description  of  the  wicked,  arbi- 
trary domination  exercised  by  the  Kahal,  and  an 
idealization  of  the  Maskil,  powerless  to  prevail 
single-handed  in  the  combat  with  combined  reac- 
tionary forces.  A  young  Talmudist,  devotee  of 
the  sciences  and  of  modern  literature,  is  persecuted 
by  the  fanatics.  Unable  to  resist  the  seductions  of 
his  alien  studies,  he  is  forced  to  expatriate  himself. 
He  goes  to  Italy,  to  the  University  of  Padua, 
whither  the  renown  of  Samuel  David  Luzzatto 
has  attracted  many  a  young  Russian  Jew  eager  for 
knowledge.  There  he  pursues  both  Rabbinical  and 
medical  courses. 

His  efforts  are  crowned  with  success,  and  he 
dreams  of  returning  to  his  country  and  consecrat- 
ing his  powers  to  the  amelioration  of  the  material 
and  moral  condition  of  his  brethren.  In  his  mind's 
eye  he  sees  himself  at  the  head  of  his  community, 
healing  souls  and  bodies,  redressing  wrongs,  intro- 
ducing reforms,  breathing  a  new  spirit  into  the  dry 
bones  and  limbs  of  Judaism.  Hardly  has  he  set 
foot  upon  the  soil  of  his  native  town  when  he  is 
arrested  and  thrown  into  prison.  The  Kahal  had 
made  out  a  passport  in  his  name  for  the  cobbler's 
son,  a  degraded  character,  a  highway  robber  and 
sneak  thief,  and  charged  with  murder.  Now  the 

195 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

true  Joseph  ben  Simon  is  to  expiate  the  crime  of 
the  other.  It  is  vain  for  him  to  protest  his  inno- 
cence. The  president  of  the  Kahal,  before  whom 
he  is  arraigned,  declares  there  is  no  other  Joseph 
ben  Simon,  and  he  is  the  guilty  one. 

The  little  town  is  described  minutely.  We  are 
on  the  public  square,  the  market  place,  the  dump- 
ing ground  of  all  the  offal  and  dirt,  whence  an 
offensive  odor  rises  in  the  nostrils  of  the  passer-by. 
Facing  this  square  is  the  synagogue,  a  mean,  dilapi- 
dated building.  "  Mud  and  filth  detract  from 
holiness  ",  but  the  Lord  takes  no  offense,  "  He 
thrones  too  high  to  be  incommoded  by  it  ".  The 
greatest  impurity,  however,  a  moral  infection,  oozes 
from  the  little  chamber  adjoining  the  synagogue— 
the  meeting-room  of  the  Kahal.  That  is  the  breed- 
ing place  of  crime  and  injustice.  Oppression  and 
venality  assert  themselves  there  with  barefaced  im- 
pudence. The  Kahal  keeps  the  lists  relating  to 
military  service;  it  makes  out  the  passports,  and 
the  whole  town  is  at  its  mercy.  It  offers  the  hypo- 
crite of  the  ghetto  the  opportunity  of  exercising  his 
fatal  power.  There  the  widow  is  despoiled,  and 
the  orphans  are  abused.  Together  with  the  un- 
fortunates who  have  dared  aspire  to  the  light,  the 
fatherless  are  delivered  to  the  recruiting  agent  as 

196 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

substitutes  for  the  sons  of  the  wealthy.  It  is 
the  domain  over  which  reigns  the  venerated  Rabbi, 
powerful  and  fear-inspiring,  Shamgar  ben  Anath,  a 
stupid  and  uncouth  upstart. 

The  life  of  sacrifices  and  privations  led  by  the 
Jewish  students  who  go  abroad  in  search  of  an 
education,  inspires  Gordon  with  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  passages  in  his  poem.  In  the  true  sense 
of  the  word,  these  young  men  are  loyal  to  Jewish 
traditions.  They  are  the  genuine  successors  of 
those  who  formerly  braved  hunger  and  cold  upon 
the  benches  of  the  Yeshibot. 

"  How  strong  it  is,  the  desire  for  knowledge  in  the  hearts  of 
the  youth  of  Israel,  the  crushed  people !  It  is  like  the  fire,  never 
extinguished,  burning  upon  the  altar !  .  .  .  . 

"  Stop  upon  the  highways  leading  to  Mir,  Eisheshok,  and  Wolo- 
sin.4  See  yon  haggard  youths  walking  on  foot !  Whither  lead 
their  steps?  What  do  they  seek? — Naked  they  will  sleep  upon 
the  floor,  and  lead  a  life  of  privation. 

"  It  is  said :  '  The  Torah  is  given  to  him  alone  who  dies  for 
her ! '  " 

And  here  is  the  modern  counterpart: 

"Go  to  no  matter  what  university  in \Europe:  the  lot  of  the 
young  Jewish  strangers  is  no  better The  Russians  are 

4  Lithuanian  towns  well-known  for  their  Talmudic  academies. 
197 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

proud  of  the  fame  of  a  Lomonossoff,  the  son  of  a  poor  moujik  who 
became  a  luminary  in  the  wqrld  of  science.  How  numerous  are 
the  Lomonossoffs  of  the  Jew  alley !  .  .  .  . " 

And  then  the  poet,  in  an  access  of  patriotism, 
cries  out : 

i  "  And  what,  in  fine,  art  thou,  O  Israel,  but  a  poor  Bahur 
among  the  peoples,  eating  one  day  with  one  of  them,  another  day 
with  the  other!  .... 

"  Thou  hast  kindled  a  perpetual  lamp  for  the  whole  world. 
Around  thee  alone  the  world  is  dark,  O  People,  slave  of  slaves, 
desperate  and  despised !  " 

With  this  poem  we  bring  to  a  close  the  analysis 
of  Gordon's  satires.  It  shows  at  their  best  the 
dreams,  the  aspirations,  the  struggles  of  the  Mas- 
kilim,  in  their  opposition  to  the  aims  of  the  reac- 
tionaries and  the  moral  and  material  confusion  in 
which  Slavic  Judaism  wallowed. 

The  same  order  of  ideas  is  presented  in  the 
greater  part  of  the  original  pieces  in  his  "  Little 
Fables  for  Big  Children  ".  They  are  written  in 
a  vivid,  pithy  style.  The  delicate,  bantering  criti- 
cism and  the  deep  philosophy  with  which  they  are 
impregnated  put  these  fables  among  the  finest  pro- 
ductions of  Hebrew  literature. 

To  the  same  period  as  the  fables  belong  the 
several  volumes  of  tales  published  by  Gordon, 

198 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

Shene  Yomim  ive-Latlah  Ehad  ("  Two  Days  and 
One  Night"),  'Olam  ke-Minhago  ("  The  World 
as  It  is  "),  and  later  the  first  part  of  Kol  Kitbe 
Yehudah  ("Collected  Writings  of  Gordon"). 
They  also  relate  to  the  life  and  manners  of  the 
Jews  of  Lithuania,  and  the  struggle  of  the  modern 
element  with  the  old.  Gordon  as  story  teller  is 
inferior  to  Gordon  as  poet.  Nevertheless  his  prose 
displays  all  the  delicacy  of  his  mind  and  the  pre- 
cision of  his  observations.  At  all  events,  these 
tales  of  his  are  not  a  negligible  quantity  in  Hebrew 
literature. 

The  reaction  which  set  in  about  1870,  after  a 
period  of  social  reforms  and  unrealized  hopes, 
affected  the  poet  deeply.  The  government  put 
obstacles  in  the  forward  march  of  the  Jews,  the 
masses  remained  steeped  in  fanaticism,  and  the  men 
of  light  and  leading  themselves  fell  short  of  doing 
their  whole  duty.  Disillusioned,  he  cherished  no 
hope  of  anything.  He  could  not  share  the  optim- 
ism of  Smolenskin  and  his  school.  For  an  instant 
he  stops  to  look  back  over  the  road  travelled.  He 
sees  nothing,  and  in  anguish  he  asks  himself: 

"For  whom  have  I  toiled  all  the  years  of  my  prime? 
"  My  parents,  they  cling  to  the  faith  and  to  their  people,  they 
think    of    nothing    but    business    and    religious    observances    all 

199 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

day  long;  they  despise  knowledge,  and  are  hostile  to  good 
sense 

"  Our  intellectuals  scorn  the  national  language,  and  all  their 
love  is  lavished  upon  the  language  of  the  land. 

"  Our  daughters,  charming  as  they  are,  are  kept  in  absolute 
ignorance  of  Hebrew 

"  And  the  young  generation  go  on  and  on,  God  knows  how 
far  and  whither  ....  perhaps  to  the  point  whence  they  will 
never  return." 

He  therefore  addresses  himself  to  a  handful  of 
the  elect,  amateurs,  the  only  ones  who  do  not  des- 
pise the  Hebrew  poet,  but  understand  him  and 
approve  his  ways : 

"  To  you  I  bring  my  genius  as  a  sacrifice,  before  you  I  shed 
my  tears  as  a  libation  ....  Who  knows  but  I  am  the  last  to 
sing  of  Zion,  and  you  the  last  to  read  the  Zion  songs  ?  " 

This  pessimistic  strain  recurs  in  all  the  later 
writings  of  Gordon.  Even  after  the  events  of 
1882,  when  revived  hatred  and  persecution  had 
thrown  the  camp  of  the  emancipators  into  disorder, 
and  the  most  ardent  of  the  anti-Rabbinic  cham- 
pions, like  Lilienblum  and  Braudes,  had  been 
driven  to  the  point  of  raising  the  flag  of  Zionism, 
Gordon  alone  of  all  was  not  carried  along  with  the 
current.  His  skepticism  kept  him  from  embracing 
the  illusions  of  his  friends  converted  to  Zionism. 

200 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

All  his  contempt  for  the  tyrants,  and  his  com- 
passion for  his  people  unjustly  oppressed,  he  puts 
into  his  poem  Ahoti  Ruhamah,  which  is  inscribed 
"  to  the  Honor  of  the  Daughter  of  Jacob  violated 
by  the  Son  of  Hamor." 

"  Why  weepest  thou,  my  afflicted  sister  ? 

"Wherefore   this  desolation   of   spirit,   this   anguish   of  heart? 

"  If  thieves  surprised  thee  and  ravished  thy  honor,  if  the  hand 
of  the  malefactor  has  prevailed  against  thee,  is  it  thy  fault,  my 
afflicted  sister  ? 

"Whither  shall  I  bear  my  shame? 

"  Where  is  thy  shame,  seeing  thy  heart  is  pure  and  chaste  ? 
Arise,  display  thy  wound,  that  all  the  world  may  see  the  blood 
of  Abel  upon  the  forehead  of  Cain.  Let  the  world  know,  my 
afflicted  sister,  how  thou  art  tortured ! 

"  Not  upon  thee  falls  the  shame,  but  upon  thy  oppressors. 

"  Thy  purity  has  not  been  sullied  by  their  polluting  touch  .... 
Thou  art  white  as  snow,  my  afflicted  sister." 

Almost  the  poet  seems  to  regret  his  efforts  of 
other  days  to  bring  the  Jews  close  to  the  Christians. 

"  What  of  humiliation  hath  befallen  thee  is  a  solace  unto  me. 
Long  I  bore  distress  and  injustice,  violence  and  spoliation;  yet 
I  remained  loyal  to  my  country;  for  better  days  I  hoped,  and 
submitted  to  all.  But  to  bear  thy  shame,  my  afflicted  sister,  I 
have  no  spirit  more." 

But  what  was  to  become  of  it  all?  Whither 
were  the  Jews  to  turn  ?  The  Palestine  of  the  Turk 

201 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

has  not  too  many  attractions  for  the  poet.  He 
still  believes  in  the  existence  of  a  country  some- 
where "  in  which  the  light  shines  for  all  human 
beings  alike,  in  which  man  is  not  humiliated  on 
account  of  his  race  or  his  faith."  Thither  he 
invites  his  brethren  to  go  and  seek  an  asylum, 
"  until  what  day  our  Father  in  heaven  will  take 
pity  on  us  and  return  us  to  our  ancient  mother." 
It  was  the  agitated  time  in  which  Pinsker  sent 
forth  his  manifesto,  "  Auto-Emancipation  ",  and 
Gordon  dedicated  his  poem,  "  The  Flock  of  the 
Lord  ",  to  him. 

"  What  are  we,  you  ask,  and  what  our  life  ?  Are  we  a  people 
like  those  around  us,  or  only  members  of  a  religious  community? 
I  will  tell  you:  We  are  neither  a  people,  nor  a  brotherhood,  we 
are  but  a  flock — the  holy  flock  of  the  Lord  God,  and  the  whole 
earth  is  an  altar  for  us.  Thereon  we  are  laid  either  as  burnt 
offerings  sacrificed  by  the  other  peoples,  or  as  victims  bound  by 
the  precepts  of  our  own  Rabbis.  A  flock  wandering  in  the  waste 

desert,  sheep  set  upon  on  all  sides  by  the  wolves We  cry 

out — in  vain !  We  utter  laments — none  hears !  The  desert  shuts  us 
in  on  all  sides.  The  earth  is  of  copper,  the  heavens  are  of  brass. 

"  Not  an  ordinary  flock  are  we,  but  a  flock  of  iron.  We 
survive  the  slaughter.  But  will  our  strength  endure  forever? 

"  A  flock  dispersed,  undisciplined,  without  a  bond — we  are  the 
flock  of  the  Lord  God !  " 

Not  that  the  idea  of  a  national  rebirth  displeased 

202 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

the  poet.  Far  from  it.  Zionism  cannot  but  exer- 
cise a  charm  upon  the  Jewish  heart.  But  he  be- 
lieved the  time  had  not  yet  arrived  for  a  national 
regeneration.  According  to  his  opinion,  there  was 
a  work  of  religious  liberation  to  be  accomplished 
before  the  reconstruction  of  the  Jewish  State  could 
be  thought  of.  He  defended  this  idea  in  a  series 
of  articles  published  in  Ha-Meliz,  of  which  he  was 
the  editor  at  that  time. 

The  last  years  of  his  life  were  tragic,  pathetic. 
With  a  torn  heart  he  sat  by  and  looked  upon  the 
desperate  situation  into  which  the  government  had 
put  millions  of  his  brethren.  To  this  he  alludes 
in  his  fable  "  Adoni-bezek  ",  which  we  reproduce 
in  its  entirety,  to  give  a  notion  of  Gordon  as  a 
fabulist: 

"  In  a  sumptuous  palace,  in  the  middle  of  a  vast  hall,  per- 
fumed, and  draped  with  Egyptian  fabrics,  stands  a  table,  and 
upon  it  are  the  most  delicious  viands.  Adoni-bezek  is  dining. 
His  attendants  are  standing  each  in  his  place — his  cupbearer, 
the  master  baker,  and  the  chief  cook.  The  eunuchs,  his  slaves, 
come  and  go,  bringing  every  variety  of  dainty  dishes,  and  the 
flesh  of  all  sorts  of  beasts  and  birds,  roasted  and  stewed. 

"  On  the  floor,  insolent  dogs  lie  sprawling,  their  jaws  agape, 
panting  to  snap  up  the  bones  and  scraps  their  master  throws 
to  them. 

"  Prostrate  under  the  table  are  seventy  captive  kings,  with 
14  203 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

their  thumbs  and  big  toes  cut  off.  To  appease  their  appetite 
they  must  scramble  for  the  scraps  that  drop  under  the  table  of 
their  sovereign  lord. 

"  Adoni-bezek  has  finished  his  repast,  and  he  amuses  himself 
with  throwing  bones  to  the  creatures  under  the  table.  Suddenly 
there  is  a  hubbub,  the  dogs  bark,  and  yap  at  their  human  neigh- 
bors, who  have  appropriated  morsels  meant  for  them. 

"The  wounded  kings  complain  to  the  master:  O  king,  see 
our  suffering  and  deliver  us  from  thy  dogs.  And  Adoni-bezek's 
answer  is:  But  it  is  you  who  are  to  be  blamed,  and  they  are 
in  the  right.  Why  do  you  do  them  wrong? 

"With  bitterness  the  kings  make  reply: 

"  O  king,  is  it  our  fault  if  we  have  been  brought  so  low  that 
we  must  vie  with  your  dogs  and  pick  up  the  crumbs  that  drop 
from  your  table?  Thou  didst  come  up  against  us  and  crush  us 
with  thy  powerful  hand,  thou  didst  mutilate  us  and  chain  us  in 
these  cages.  No  longer  are  we  able  to  work  or  seek  our  suste- 
nance. Why  should  these  dogs  have  the  right  to  bite  and  bark  ? 
O  that  the  just — if  still  there  are  such  men  in  our  time — might 
rise  up !  O  that  one  whose  heart  has  been  touched  by  God  might 
judge  between  ourselves  and  those  who  bite  us,  which  of  us  is  the 
hangman  and  which  the  victim?" 

Toward  the  end  of  his  days  the  poet  was  per- 
mitted to  enjoy  a  great  gratification.  The  Jewish 
notabilities  of  the  capital  arranged  a  celebration  of 
the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  his  activity  as  a 
writer.  At  the  reunion  of  Gordon's  friends  on 
this  occasion  it  was  decided  to  publish  an  edition 
de  luxe  of  his  poetical  works.  A  final  optimistic 

20<i 


JUDAH  LEON  GORDON 

note  was  forced  from  his  heart,  deeply  moved  by 
this  unexpected  tribute.  He  recalled  the  vow  once 
made  by  him,  always  to  remain  loyal  to  Hebrew, 
and  he  recounted  the  vexations  and  disappoint- 
ments to  which  the  poet  is  exposed  who  chooses  to 
write  in  a  dead  language  doomed  to  oblivion. 
Then  he  addressed  a  salutation  to  the  young  "  of 
whom  we  had  despaired,  and  who  are  coming  back, 
and  to  the  dawn  of  the  rebirth  of  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage and  the  Jewish  people." 

However,  Gordon  never  entered  into  the  na- 
tional revival  with  full  faith  in  its  promises.  Until 
the  end  he  remained  the  poet  of  misery  and  des- 
pair. 

The  death  of  Smolenskin  elicited  a  last  disconso- 
late word  from  him.  It  may  be  considered  the 
ghetto  poet's  testament.  He  compared  the  great 
writer  to  the  Jewish  people,  and  asked  himself: 

"What  is  our  people,  and  what  its  literature? 
"  A  giant  felled  to  the  ground  unable  to  rise. 
"  The  whole  earth  is  its  sepulchre. 

"  And     its     books  ? — the     epitaph     engraved     upon     its     tomb- 
stone. .         .  " 


205 


CHAPTER  VIII 
REFORMERS  AND  CONSERVATIVES 

THE  Two  EXTREMES 

Though  Gordon  was  the  most  distinguished,  he 
was  not  the  only  representative  of  the  anti-Rabbinic 
school  in  the  neo-Hebrew  literature.  The  decline 
of  liberalism  in  official  state  circles,  and  the  frus- 
tration of  every  hope  of  equality,  had  their  effect 
in  reshaping  the  policy  pursued  by  educated  Jews. 
Up  to  this  time  they  had  cherished  no  desire  except 
for  external  emancipation  and  to  assimilate  with 
their  neighbors  of  other  faiths.  Liberty  and  jus- 
tice suddenly  removed  from  their  horizon,  they 
could  not  but  transfer  their  ambition  and  their 
activity  to  the  inner  chambers  of  Judaism.  Other 
circumstances  contributed  to  the  result.  The  eco- 
nomic changes  affecting  the  bourgeoisie  and  the 
influence  exercised  by  the  realism  and  the  utili- 
tarian tendencies  of  the  Russian  literature  of  the 
time  had  not  a  little  to  do  with  the  modified  aims 
cherished  in  the  camp  of  the  Maskilim.  Jews  of 

206 


THE  TWO  EXTREMES 

education  living  in  Galicia  or  in  the  small  towns  of 
Russia,  who  had  the  best  opportunity  of  penetrat- 
ing to  the  intimate  life  of  the  people  and  knowing 
its  day  by  day  misery,  could  and  did  make  clear, 
how  helpless  the  masses  of  the  Jews  were  in  the 
face  of  the  moral  and  economic  ruin  that  menaced 
them,  and  how  serious  an  obstacle  religious  restric- 
tions and  ignorance  placed  in  the  way  of  any  change 
in  their  condition.  And  therefore  they  made  it 
their  object  to  extol  practical,  thoroughgoing 
reforms.  ^ 

In  religion,  they  demanded,  with  Gordon,  the 
abolition  of  all  restrictions  weighing  upon  the  peo- 
ple, and  a  radical  reform  of  Jewish  education. 

In  practical  life,  they  were  desirous  of  turning 
the  attention  of  their  brethren  to  the  manual  trades, 
to  the  technical  professions,  and  to  agriculture. 
Besides,  it  was  their  purpose  to  extend  modern 
primary  instruction  and  bring  it  within  the  reach 
of  considerably  larger  circles. 

The  government  viewed  these  efforts  with  a 
favorable  eye,  and  under  its  protection  the  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Culture  among  the  Jews  in 
Russia  was  formed,  with  headquarters  at  St. 
Petersburg.  Thus  supported,  the  educated  could 
carry  on  their  propaganda  in  the  open,  and  throw 

207 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

light  into  the  remotest  corners  of  the  country.  The 
Hebrew  press,  though  still  in  its  infancy,  co-ope- 
rated with  them  zealously  in  furthering  their  benef- 
icent purposes. 

The  most  determined  group  of  the  anti-reli- 
gious propagandists  was  at  Brody  in  Galicia. 
Thence  emanated  the  influences  that  operated  in 
Russia,  and  thence  He-Haluz  ("The  Pioneer"), 
founded  by  Erter  and  Schorr  in  1853,  and  pub- 
lished at  Lemberg,  carried  on  a  brilliant  campaign 
against  religious  superstitions,  shrinking  not  even 
from  attacks  upon  the  Biblical  tradition  itself.  The 
boldest  of  the  contributors  to  He-Haluz,  not  count- 
ing its  valiant  editor,  was  Abraham  Krochmal,  the 
son  of  the  philosopher.  A  scholar  and  subtle 
thinker,  he  introduced  Biblical  criticism  into  He- 
brew literature.  In  his  books  *  as  well  as  in  his 
articles  in  He-Haluz  and  in  Ha-Kol,  the  latter 
edited  by  Rodkinson,  he  goes  so  far  as  to  dispute 
the  Divine  character  of  the  Bible,  and  he  demands 
radical  reforms  in  Judaism.  His  writings  gave 
the  signal  for  a  considerable  stir  and  expression 
of  opinion.  Even  the  most  moderate  among  the 

1  Ha-Ketdb  vaeha-Miktab  ("Writing  and  the  Scriptures"), 
Lemberg,  1875;  'lyyun  Tefillah  ("Reflections  on  Prayer"),  Lem- 
berg, 1885,  etc. 

208 


THE  TWO  EXTREMES 

orthodox  could  not  remain  tranquil  in  the  presence 
of  such  blasphemous  views.  They  put  Krochmal 
outside  of  the  pale  of  Judaism,  together  with  all 
scholars  occupied  with  Bible  criticism,  among  them 
Geiger,  who  had  exerted  great  influence  upon  the 
school  of  reformers  writing  in  Hebrew. 

In  Lithuania  things  did  not  go  so  far.  The  hard 
conditions  of  existence  there  were  not  propitious 
to  the  rise  of  a  purely  scholarly  school  or  to  theo- 
retic discussion.  Scientific  centres  were  entirely 
wanting,  and  the  censor  permitted  no  trifling  with 
the  subject  of  religion.  A  new  movement,  realistic 
and  utilitarian  in  the  main,  began  to  take  shape, 
first  in  the  form  of  a  protest  against  the  unsubstan- 
tial ideals  of  the  Hebrew  press  and  Hebrew 
literature.  In  1867,  Abraham  Kowner,  an  ardent 
controversialist,  published  his  Heker  Dabar  ("A 
Word  of  Criticism  ") ,  and  his  Zeror  Perahim  ("A 
Bouquet  of  Flowers  ") ,  in  which  he  takes  the  press 
and  the  writers  severely  to  task  for  indulging  in 
rhetoric  and  futile  scintillations,  instead  of  occupy- 
ing themselves  with  the  real  exigencies  of  life.  In 
the  same  year,  Abraham  Jacob  Paperna  published 
his  essay  in  literary  criticism,  and  the  young  Smo- 
lenskin,  in  an  article  appearing  at  Odessa,  attacked 
Letteris  for  his  artificial,  insincere  translation  of 

209 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Goethe's  Faust  into  Hebrew.  On  all  sides  there 
blew  a  fresh  breath  of  realism,  and  the  critical 
spirit  was  abroad. 

The  most  characteristic  exponent  of  this  reform- 
ing movement  was  Moses  Lob  Lilienblum,  a  native 
of  the  Government  of  Kowno.  Endowed  with  a 
temperate,  logical  mind,  untroubled  by  an  excess 
of  sentimentality,  Lilienblum,  one  of  those  deliber- 
ate, puritanic  scholars  that  constitute  the  glory  of 
Lithuanian  Talmudism,  was  at  once  hero  and  actor 
in  the  intense  drama  performed  in  the  Russian 
ghetto,  which  he  himself  described  as  the  "  Jewish 
tragi-comedy  ". 

He  began  his  literary  career  with  an  article  en- 
titled Orhot  ha-Talmud  ("The  Paths  of  the 
Talmud"),  and  published  in  Ha-Meliz  in  1868. 
Here,  as  well  as  in  the  articles  following  it,  he  does 
not  depart  from  established  tradition.  In  the  very 
name  of  the  spirit  of  the  Talmud,  he  demands 
religious  reforms  and  the  abolition  of  the  restric- 
tions that  make  daily  life  burdensome.  These  ex- 
cessive requirements,  he  urges,  were  heaped  up  by 
the  Rabbis  subsequent  to  the  full  development  of 
the  Law,  and  in  opposition  to  its  spirit.  The  young 
scholar  showed  himself  to  be  a  zealous  admirer  of 
the  Talmud,  and  with  clinching  logic  he  proves 

210 


THE  TWO  EXTREMES 

that  the  Rabbis  of  later  times,  in  asserting  its  im- 
mutability, had  distinctly  deviated  from  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Law,  the  fundamental  idea  of  which 
was  the  harmonizing  of  "  Law  and  Life  ".  The 
wrath  aroused  by  such  articles  can  easily  be  imagin- 
ed. Lilienblum  was  an  Apikoros,  the  "  heretic  " 
par  excellence  of  the  Lithuanian  ghetto.  The  young 
writer  had  to  undergo  a  series  of  outrageous  per- 
secutions and  acts  of  vengeance  inflicted  by  the 
fanatics,  especially  the  Hasidim,  of  his  town.  He 
tells  the  story  in  detail  in  his  autobiography,  Hat- 
tot  Ne'urim  ("The  Sins  of  Youth"),  published 
at  Vienna,  in  1876,  one  of  the  most  noteworthy 
productions  of  modern  Hebrew  literature.  With 
the  logical  directness  of  a  Mitnagged*  and  the 
cruel,  sarcastic  candor  of  a  wasted  existence,  Lilien- 
blum probes  and  exposes  the  depths  of  his  tortured 
conscience,  at  the  same  time  following  up  inexor- 
ably the  steps  which  remove  the  free-thinker  from 
the  faithful  believer,  without,  however,  reaching 
a  real  or  positive  result — in  the  spirit  at  once  of 
Rousseau  and  Voltaire.  As  he  himself  says: 

"  It  is  a  drama  essentially  Jewish,  because  it  is  a  life  without 

'  Literally,  "  one  who  is  opposed  "  [to  the  mystical  system  of 
Hasidism]  ;  a  protestant,  a  Puritan. 

211 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

dramatic  effect,  without  extraordinary  adventure.  It  is  made 
up  of  torment  and  suffering,  all  the  more  grievous  as  they  are 
kept  hidden  in  the  recesses  of  one's  heart " 

Better  than  any  one  else  he  knows  the  cause  of 
these  ills.  Like  Gordon,  he  holds  that  the  Book 
has  killed  the  Man,  the  dead  letter  has  been  sub- 
stituted for  feeling. 

"  You  ask  me,  O  reader ",  he  says  with  bitterness,  "  who  I 
am,  and  what  my  name  is? — Well,  then,  I  am  a  living  being, 
not  a  Job  who  has  never  existed.  Nor  am  I  one  of  the  dead 
in  the  valley  of  bones  brought  back  to  life  by  the  prophet 
Ezekiel,  which  is  only  a  tale  that  is  told.  But  I  am  one  of  the 
living  dead  of  the  Babylonian  Talmud,  revived  by  the  new 
Hebrew  literature,  itself  a  dead  literature,  powerless  to  bring 
the  dead  to  life  with  its  dew,  scarcely  able  to  transport  us  into 
a  state  between  life  and  death.  I  am  a  Talmudist,  a  believer 
aforetimes,  now  become  an  unbeliever,  no  longer  clinging  to  the 
dreams  and  the  hopes  which  my  ancestors  bequeathed  to  me.  I 
am  a  wreck,  a  miserable  wretch,  hopeless  unto  despair " 

And  he  narrates  the  incidents  of  his  childhood, 
the  period  of  the  Tohu,  of  chaos  and  confusion, 
the  days  of  study,  misery,  superstition.  He  recalls 
the  years  of  adolescence,  his  premature  marriage, 
his  struggle  for  a  bare  existence,  his  wretched  life 
as  a  teacher  of  the  Talmud,  panting  under  the 
double  yoke  of  a  mother-in-law  and  a  rigid  cere- 
monial. Then  comes  his  introduction  to  Hebrew 

212 


THE  TWO  EXTREMES 

literature.  His  conscience  long  refuses  assent,  but 
stern  logic  triumphs,  and  the  result  is  that  all  the 
ideas  that  have  been  his  guiding  principles  crumble 
into  dust  one  by  one.  Negation  replaces  faith. 
The  terrible  conflict  begins  with  a  whole  town  of 
formalists,  who  declare  him  outside  of  the  com- 
munity of  Israel, — a  pitiless  conflict,  in  which  he 
is  supported  half-heartedly  by  two  or  three  of  the 
strong-minded.  The  publication  of  his  first  article, 
on  the  necessity  of  reforms  in  religion,  increases  the 
fury  of  the  people  against  him,  and  his  ruin  is 
determined.  Had  there  not  been  intervention 
from  the  outside,  he  would  have  been  delivered  to 
the  authorities  to  serve  in  the  army,  or  denounced 
as  a  dangerous  heretic.  Arid  yet  the  so-called 
heretic  cursed  by  every  mouth  had  proceeded  so 
short  a  distance  on  the  path  of  heterodoxy  that  he 
still  entertained  scruples  about  carrying  a  book 
from  one  house  to  another  on  the  Sabbath ! 

This  nai've  soul,  in  which  all  sorts  of  feelings 
had  long  before  begun  to  stir  obscurely,  was 
aroused  to  full  consciousness  by  the  reading  of 
Mapu's  works.  Casual  acquaintance  with  an  intel- 
ligent woman  made  his  heart  vibrate  with  notes 
unknown  until  then.  Life  in  his  native  town  be- 
came intolerable,  and  he  left  it  for  Odessa,  the 

213 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

El  Dorado  of  all  ghetto  dreamers.  Again  disil- 
lusionment was  his  lot.  He  who  was  ready  to 
undergo  martyrdom  for  his  ideas,  this  champion 
of  the  Haskalah,  his  heart  famishing  for  knowl- 
edge and  justice,  was  not  long  in  discerning,  with 
his  penetrating,  perspicacious  mind,  that  he  had 
not  yet  reached  the  best  of  modern  worlds.  With 
bitterness  he  notes  that  the  Jews  of  the  south  of 
Russia,  "  where  the  Talmud  is  cut  out  of  practical 
life,  if  they  are  more  liberal  than  the  others,  are 
yet  not  exempt  from  stupid  superstitions."  He 
notes  that  the  Hebrew  literature  so  dear  to  his 
heart  is  excluded  from  the  circles  of  the  intellectual. 
He  sees  that  egotistic  materialism  has  superseded 
the  ideal  aspirations  of  the  ghetto.  He  discovers 
that  feeling  has  no  place  in  modern  life,  and  toler- 
ance, the  loudly  vaunted,  is  but  a  sound.  When 
he  ventures  to  put  his  complaints  into  words,  he 
is  treated  as  a  "  religious  fanatic  "  by  people  who 
have  no  interest  beyond  their  own  selfish  pleasures 
and  the  satisfaction  of  their  material  cravings.  He 
is  deeply  affected  by  what  he  observes  and  notes. 
In  the  presence  of  the  egotistic  indifference  of  the 
emancipated  Jews,  he  is  shaken  in  his  firmest  con- 
victions, and  he  admits  with  anguish  that  the  ideal 
for  which  he  has  fought  and  sacrificed  his  life  is 

214 


THE  TWO  EXTREMES 

but  a  phantom.     Under  the  stress  of  such  disap- 
pointment he  writes  these  lines : 

"  In  very  truth,  I  tell  you,  never  will  the  Jewish  religion  be 
in  accord  with  life.  It  will  sink,  or,  at  best,  it  will  remain  the 
cherished  possession  of  the  limited  few,  as  it  is  now  in  the 
Western  countries  of  Europe Practical  reality  is  in  oppo- 
sition to  religion.  Now  I  know  that  we  have  no  public  on  our 
side;  and  actual  life  with  its  great  movements  produces  its 
results  without  the  aid  of  literature,  which  even  in  our  people 
is  an  effective  influence  only  with  the  simple  spirits  of  the  country 
districts.  The  desire  for  life  and  liberty,  the  prevalence  of 
charlatanism  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  the  abandoning 
of  religious  studies  in  favor  of  secular  studies,  will  have  baleful 
consequences  for  the  Jewish  youth,  even  in  Lithuania." 

This  whole  period  of  our  author's  life  is  charac- 
terized by  similar  regrets — he  mourns  over  days 
spent  in  barren  struggles  and  over  the  follies  of 
youth. 

"  To-day  I  finished  writing  my  autobiography,  which  I  call 
'  The  Sins  of  Youth '.  I  have  drawn  up  the  balance-sheet  of 
my  life  of  thirty  years  and  one  month,  and  I  am  deeply  grieved 
to  see  that  the  sum  total  is  a  cipher.  How  heavily  the  hand  of 
fortune  has  lain  upon  me!  The  education  I  received  was  the 
reverse  of  everything  I  had  need  of  later.  I  was  raised  with 
the  idea  of  becoming  a  distinguished  Rabbinical  authority,  and 
here  I  am  a  business  man ;  I  was  raised  in  an  imaginary  world, 
to  be  a  faithful  observer  of  the  Law,  shrinking  back  from  what- 
ever has  the  odor  of  sin,  and  the  very  things  I  was  taught  crush 

215 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

me  to  earth  now  that  the  imaginary  man  has  disappeared  in 
me;  I  was  raised  to  live  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  dead,  and 
here  I  am  cast  among  people  who  lead  a  real  life,  in  which  I 
am  unable  to  take  my  part;  I  was  raised  in  a  world'of  dreams 
and  pure  theory,  and  I  find  myself  now  in  the  midst  of  the  chaos 
of  practical  life,  to  which  I  am  driven  by  my  need^s  to  apply 
myself,  though  my  brain  refuses  to  leave  the  old  ruts  and  sub- 
stitute practice  for  speculation.  I  am  not  even  equipped  to  carry 
on  a  discussion  with  business  men  discussing  nothing  but  busi- 
ness. I  was  raised  to  be  the  father  of  a  family,  in  the  sphere 
chosen  for  me  by  my  father  in  his  wisdom How  far  re- 
moved my  heart  is  from  all  such  things  .  .  .  .  ! 

"  I  weep  over  my  shattered  little  world  which  I  cannot  restore!" 

The  regrets  of  Lilienblum  over  the  useless  work 
attempted  by  Hebrew  literature  betray  themselves 
also  in  his  pamphlet  in  verse,  Kehal  Re f aim  ("The 
Assembly  of  the  Dead").  The  dead  are  imper- 
sonated by  the  Hebrew  periodicals  and  reviews. 

Later,  a  novelist  of  talent,  Reuben  Asher  Brau- 
des,  resumed  the  attempt  to  harmonize  theory  and 
practice,  in  his  great  novel,  "  Religion  and  Life  ". 
The  hero,  the  young  Rabbi  Samuel,  is  the  picture 
of  Lilienblum.  From  the  point  of  view  of  art,  it 
is  one  of  the  best  novels  in  Hebrew  literature. 
Life  in  the  rural  districts,  the  austere  idealism  of 
the  enlightened,  the  superstitions  of  the  crowd,  are 


216 


THE  TWO  EXTREMES 

depicted  with  extraordinary  clearness  of  outline.3 
The  novel  ran  in  Ha-Boker  Or  (1877-1880),  and 
was  never  completed — a  counterpart  of  its  hero. 
Had  not  Lilienblum,  too,  stopped  in  the  middle  of 
the  road? 

The  crisis  that  occurred  in  the  life  of  Lilienblum, 
torn  from  his  ideal  speculations  in  a  provincial 
town,  and  forced  into  contact  with  an  actuality  that 
was  as  far  as  possible  away  from  solving  the  prob- 
lem of  harmonizing  religion  and  life,  was  the  typ- 
ical fate  of  all  the  educated  Jews  of  the  period. 
Lilienblum  and  his  followers  gave  themselves  up 
to  regrets  over  the  futile  work  of  three  generations 
of  humanists,  who,  instead  of  restoring  the  ghetto 
to  health,  had  but  hastened  its  utter  ruin.  The 
ideal  aspirations  of  the  Maskilim  had  been  suc- 
ceeded by  a  gross  utilitarianism  without  an  ideal. 
What  disquieted  the  soul  of  the  Maskil  in  the 
decade  from  1870  to  1880  is  expressed  in  the  con- 
cluding words  of  "  The  Sins  of  Youth  " : 

"  The  young  people  are  to  work  at  nothing  and  think  of 
nothing  but  how  to  prepare  for  their  own  life.  All  is  forbidden, 

*  Ha-Dat  iveha-Hayyim,  Lemberg,  1880.  Another  long  novel 
by  Braudes  is  called  Shete  ha-Kezawot  ("The  Two  Extremes"), 
published  in  1886,  wherein  he  extols  the  national  revival  and 
religious  romanticism. 

217 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

wherefrom  they  cannot  derive  direct  profit — they  are  permitted 
only  the  study  of  sciences  and  languages,  or  apprenticeship  to  a 
trade. 

"  The  youth  who  break  away  from  the  laborious  study  of  the 
Talmud,  throw  themselves  with  avidity  into  the  study  of  modern 
literature.  This  headlong  course  has  been  in  vogue  with  us 
about  a  century.  One  generation  disappears,  to  make  place  for 
the  next,  and  each  generation  is  pushed  forward  by  a  blind 
force,  no  one  knows  whither  .  .  .  .  ! 

"  It  is  high  time  for  us  to  throw  a  glance  backward — to  stop  a 
moment  and  ask  ourselves:  Whither  are  we  hastening,  and  why 
do  we  hasten  ?".... 

However,  the  gods  did  not  forsake  the  ghetto. 
If  Gordon  and,  with  more  emphasis,  Lilienblum 
predicted  the  ruin  of  all  the  dreams  of  the  ghetto, 
it  was  because,  having  been  wrenched  from  the  life 
of  the  masses  and  out  of  traditional  surroundings, 
they  judged  things  from  a  distance,  and  permitted 
themselves  to  be  influenced  by  appearances. 
Blinded  by  their  bias,  they  saw  only  two  well-de- 
fined camps  in  Judaism — the  moderns,  indifferent 
to  all  that  constitutes  Judaism,  and  the  bigots,  op- 
posed to  what  savors  of  knowledge,  free-thinking, 
and  worldly  pleasure.  They  made  their  reckoning 
without  the  Jewish  people.  The  humanist  propa- 
ganda was  not  so  empty  and  vain  as  its  later  pro- 
moters were  pleased  to  consider  it.  The  conserva- 

218 


THE  TWO  EXTREMES 

tive  romanticism  of  a  Samuel  David  Luzzatto 
and  the  Zionist  sentiments  of  a  Mapu  had  planted 
a  germinating  seed  in  the  heart  of  traditional  Juda- 
ism itself.  It  is  conceded  that  we  cannot  resort  for 
evidence  to  such  old  romanticists  as  Schulman,  who 
in  the  serenity  of  their  souls  gave  little  heed  to  the 
campaign  of  the  reformers,  though  it  is  neverthe- 
less a  fact  that  they  contributed  to  the  diffusion  of 
humanism  and  of  Hebrew  literature  by  their 
works,  which  were  well  received  in  orthodox  cir- 
cles. Our  contention  'fs  better  proved  by  Rabbis 
reputed  orthodox,  who  devoted  themselves  with 
enthusiasm  to  the  cultivation  of  Hebrew  literature. 
Without  renouncing  religion,  they  found  a  way  of 
effecting  the  harmonization  of  religion  and  life. 
In  point  of  fact,  humanism  of  a  conservative 
stripe  reached  its  zenith  at  the  precise  moment 
when  the  realists,  deceived  by  superficial  appear- 
ances, were  predicting  the  complete  breaking  up  of 
traditional  Judaism. 

The  chief  representatives  of  the  reform  press 
were  He-Haluz,  Ha-Meliz,  and  later  on  Ha-Kol 
("The  Voice"),  and  by  their  side  the  views  of 
the  conservatives  were  defended  in  Ha-Maggid, 
Ha-Habazzelet  ("  The  Lily  "),  published  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  especially  Ha-Lebanon,  appearing  first 

15  219 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

at  Paris  and  then  at  Mayence.  In  Ha-Maggid, 
beginning  with  the  year  1871,  the  editor,  David 
Gordon,  supported  by  the  assenting  opinion  of  his 
readers,  carried  on  an  ardent  campaign  for  the 
colonization  of  Palestine  as  the  necessary  fore- 
runner of  the  political  revival  of  Israel. 

A  Galician  thinker,  Fabius  Mises,  published,  in 
1869,  an  article  in  Ha-Meliz,  entitled  Milhemet 
ha-Dat  ("The  Wars  of  the  Faith"),  in  which 
he  wards  off  the  attacks  upon  the  Jewish  religion 
by  the  anti-Rabbinical  school.  He  proves  it  to  be 
a  reasonable  religion,  and  a  national  religion  par 
excellence.  In  his  poems,  Mises  assails  Geiger  for 
the  religious  reforms  urged  by  him,  and  he  op- 
poses also  the  school  of  He-Haluz  in  the  name  of 
the  national  tradition.  Later  on  Mises  published 
an  important  history  of  modern  philosophy  in 
Hebrew. 

Michael  Pines,  a  writer  in  Ha-Lebanon,  and  the 
opponent  of  Lilienblum,  was  the  protagonist  of  the 
conservative  party  in  Lithuania.  His  chief  work, 
Yalde  Ruhl  ("The  Children  of  My  Spirit"), 
appeared  in  1872  at  Mayence.  It  may  be  con- 
sidered the  literary  masterpiece  on  the  conserva- 
tive side,  the  counterstroke  to  Lilienblum's  "  Sins 
of  Youth  ".  It  is  a  defense  of  traditional  Judaism, 

220 


THE  TWO  EXTREMES 

and  is  instinct  with  an  intuitive  philosophy  and  with 
deep  faith.  Pines  makes  a  closely  reasoned  claim 
for  the  right  of  the  Jewish  religion  to  exist  in  its 
integrity.  Without  being  a  fanatic,  he  believes, 
with  Samuel  David  Luzzatto,  that  the  religion  of 
the  Jew  on  its  poetic  side  is  the  peculiar  product 
of  the  Jewish  national  genius — that  the  religion, 
and  not  the  artificial  legal  system  engrafted  upon 
it,  is  the  essential  part  of  Judaism.  The  cere- 
monies and  the  religious  practices  are  necessary  for 
the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  harmony  of  the 
faith,  "  as  the  wick  is  necessary  for  the  lamp  ". 
This  harmony,  reacting  at  once  upon  feeling  and 
morality,  cannot  be  undone  by  the  results  of  sci- 
ence, and  therefore  the  Jewish  religion  is  eternal 
in  its  essence.  The  religious  reforms  introduced 
by  the  German  Rabbis  have  but  had  the  effect  of 
drying  up  the  springs  of  poetry  in  the  religion,  and 
as  for  the  compromise  between  faith  and  life, 
extolled  and  urged  by  Lilienblum,  it  is  only  a 
futile  phrase.  Of  what  use  is  it,  seeing  that  the 
religious  feel  no  need  of  it,  but  on  the  contrary 
take  delight  in  the  religion  as  it  stands,  which  fills 
the  void  in  their  soul? 

Pines  did  not  share  the  pessimistic  fears  of  the 
realists  of  his  time.     A  true  conservative,  he  be- 

221 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

lieved  in  the  national  rebirth  of  the  people  of 
Israel,  and,  a  romantic  Jew,  he  dreamed  of  the 
realization  of  the  humanitarian  predictions  of  the 
prophets.  Judaism  to  him  is  the  pure  idea  of  jus- 
tice, "  and  every  just  idea  ends  by  conquering  the 
whole  of  humanity  ". 

Extremes  meet.  There  is  one  point  in  common 
between  Lilienblum,  the  last  of  the  humanists,  the 
disillusioned  skeptic,  and  Pines,  the  optimist  of  the 
ghetto.  Both  maintained  that  the  action  of  the 
humanists  was  inefficacious,  and  the  compromise 
between  religion  and  life  a  vain  expedient.  Never- 
theless, there  was  no  possibility  of  bringing  the 
two  to  stand  upon  the  same  platform.  While  the 
humanists,  in  abandoning  the  perennial  dreams  of 
the  people,  had  separated  themselves  from  its 
moral  and  religious  life,  and  thus  cut  away  the 
ground  from  under  their  own  feet,  the  romantic 
conservatives  paid  no  attention  to  the  demands  of 
modern  life,  the  currents  of  which  had  loosed  the 
foundations  of  the  old  world,  and  were  threaten- 
ing to  carry  away  the  last  national  breastwork. 

A  synthesis  was  needed  to  merge  the  two  cur- 
rents, the  humanist  and  the  romantic,  and  lead  the 
languishing  Haskalah  back  to  the  living  sources 

222 


THE  TWO  EXTREMES 


of  national  Judaism.  This  was  the  task  accom- 
plished by  Perez  Smolenskin,  the  leader  of  the  na- 
tional progressive  movement. 


223 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  NATIONAL  PROGRESSIVE 
MOVEMENT 

PEREZ  SMOLENSKIN 

Perez  Smolenskin  was  born,  in  1842,  at  Monas- 
tryshchina,  a  little  market  town  near  Mohilew. 
His  father,  a  poor  and  an  unfortunate  man,  who 
was  not  able  to  support  his  wife  and  six  chil- 
dren successfully,  was  forced  to  leave  his  family 
on  account  of  a  slanderous  accusation  brought 
against  him  by  a  Polish  priest.  The  mother,  a 
plucky  woman  of  the  people,  supported  herself  by 
hard  work,  in  spite  of  which  it  was  her  ambition 
to  make  Rabbis  of  her  boys.  At  length  the  father 
joined  his  family  again,  and  a  period  of  compara- 
tive prosperity  set  in. 

The  first  care  of  the  returned  father  was  to 
look  to  the  education  of  his  two  sons,  Leon  and 
Perez.  The  latter  showed  unusual  ability.  At 
the  age  of  four  he  began  the  study  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, at  five  he  had  been  introduced  to  the  Tal- 

224 


THE  NATIONAL  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT 

mud.  These  studies  absorbed  him  until  his  elev- 
enth year.  Then,  like  all  the  sons  of  the  ghetto 
desirous  of  an  education,  he  left  his  father  and 
mother,  and  betook  himself  to  the  Yeshibah  at 
Shklow.  The  journey  was  made  on  foot,  and  his 
only  escort  was  the  blessing  of  his  mother.  The 
lad's  youth  proved  no  obstacle  to  his  entering  the 
Talmud  academy,  nor  to  his  acquiring  celebrity  for 
industry  and  attainments.  His  brother  Leon,  who 
had  preceded  him  to  Shklow,  initiated  him  in  the 
Russian  language,  and  ^supplied  him  with  modern 
Hebrew  writings.  Openhearted  and  lively,  he  set 
prejudice  at  defiance,  and  maintained  friendly  re- 
lations with  a  certain  intellectual  who  was  reputed 
a  heretic,  an  acquaintanceship  that  contributed 
greatly  to  the  mental  development  of  young  Perez. 
The  dignified  burghers  who  were  taking  turns  in 
supplying  him  with  his  meals,  alarmed  at  his  aber- 
ration from  the  straight  path,  one  after  another 
withdrew  their  protection  from  him.  Black  misery 
clutched  him.  He  was  but  fourteen  years  old,  and 
already  he  had  entered  upon  a  life  of  disquiet  and 
adventure.  His  story  is  the  Odyssey  of  an  erring 
son  of  the  ghetto.  Repulsed  by  the  Mitnaggedim, 
he  sought  help  with  the  Hasidim.  He  was  equally 
ill-fitted  for  their  life.  Their  uncouth  mystical 

225 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

exaltation,  the  absurdity  of  their  superstitions,  and 
their  hypocrisy  drove  him  to  exasperation.  He 
cast  himself  into  the  whirl  of  life,  became  assistant 
to  a  cantor  at  a  synagogue,  and  then  teacher  of 
Hebrew  and  Talmud.  The  whole  gamut  of  pre- 
carious employments  open  to  a  scholar  of  the 
ghetto  he  ran  up  and  down  again.  His  restless 
spirit  and  the  desire  to  complete  his  education  car- 
ried him  to  Odessa.  There  he  established  himself, 
and  there  years  of  work  and  endeavor  were  passed. 
He  acquired  the  modern  languages,  his  mind  grew 
broader,  and  he  gave  up  religious  practices  once 
for  all,  always  remaining  attached  to  Judaism, 
however. 

In  1867  appeared  his  first  literary  production, 
the  article  against  Letteris,  who  at  that  time  occu- 
pied the  position  of  an  incontestable  authority,  in 
which  Smolenskin  permits  himself  to  pass  severe 
and  independent  criticism  upon  his  Hebrew  adap- 
tation of  Goethe's  Faust.  In  the  Odessa  period 
falls  also  the  writing  of  the  first  few  chapters  of  his 
great  novel,  Ha-Toeh  be-Darke  ha-Hayyim  ("A 
Wanderer  Astray  on  the  Path  of  Life  ").*  But  his 

1 A  complete  edition  of  the  novels  and  articles  by  Smolenskin 
appeared  recently  at  St.  Petersburg  and  Wilna,  published  by 
Katzenelenbogen. 

226 


THE  NATIONAL  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT 

free  spirit  could  not  adapt  itself  to  the  narrowness 
and  meanness  of  the  literary  folk  and  the  editors  of 
periodicals.  He  determined  to  leave  Russia  for 
the  civilized  Occident,  the  promised  land  in  the 
dreams  of  the  Russian  Maskilim,  beautified  by  the 
presence  of  Rapoport  and  Luzzatto.  His  first  des- 
tination was  Prague,  the  residence  of  Rapoport, 
then  Vienna,  and  later  he  pushed  his  way  to  Paris 
and  London.  Everywhere  he  studied  and  made 
notes.  A  sharp-eyed  observer,  he  sought  to  probe 
European  affairs  as  well  as  Occidental  Judaism  to 
their  depths.  He  established  relations  with  Rab- 
bis, scholars,  and  Jewish  notables,  and  finally  he 
was  in  a  position  to  appraise  at  close  range  the 
liberty  he  had  heard  vaunted  so  loudly,  and  the 
religious  reforms  wished  for  so  eagerly  by  the  in- 
telligent of  his  own  country.  He  soon  had  oc- 
casion to  see  the  reverse  of  the  medal,  and  his 
disenchantment  was  complete.  Regretfully  he 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  modern  emancipa- 
tion movement  had  brought  the  Jewish  spirit  in 
the  Occident  to  the  point  at  which  the  Western  Jew 
was  turned  away  from  the  essence  of  Judaism. 
Form  had  taken  the  place  of  substance,  ceremonial 
the  place  of  religious  and  national  sentiment. 
Heartsick  over  such  disregard  of  the  past,  indig- 

227 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

nant  at  the  indifference  displayed  by  modern  Jews 
toward  all  he  held  dear,  young  Smolenskin  re- 
solved to  break  the  silence  that  was  observed  in  the 
great  capitals  of  Europe  respecting  all  things  Jew- 
ish and  carry  the  gospel  of  the  ghetto  to  the  "  neo- 
Gentiles  ". 

The  first  shaft  was  delivered  in  Vienna,  where 
he  began  the  publication  of  his  review  Ha-Shahar 
("Daybreak").  Almost  without  means,  but 
fired  by  the  wish  to  work  for  the  national  and 
moral  elevation  of  his  people,  the  young  writer 
laid  down  the  articles  of  his  faith : 

"  The  purpose  of  Ha-Shahar  is  to  shed  the  light  of  knowledge 
upon  the  paths  of  the  sons  of  Jacob,  to  open  the  eyes  of  those 
who  either  have  not  beheld  knowledge,  or,  beholding,  have  not 
understood  its  value,  to  regenerate  the  beauty  of  the  Hebrew 
language,  and  increase  the  number  of  its  devotees. 

"  ....  But  when  the  eyes  of  the  blind  begin  to  open  slowly, 
and  they  shake  off  the  sluggish  slumber  in  which  they  have  been 
sunk  since  many  years,  then  there  is  still  another  class  to  be 
dealt  with — those  who,  having  tasted  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of 
knowledge,  intentionally  close  their  eyes  to  our  language, 
the  only  possession  left  to  us  that  can  bring  together  the  hearts 

of  Israel  and  make  one  nation  of  it  all  over  the  earth Let 

them  take  warning!  If  my  hand  is  against  the  bigots  and  the 
hypocrites  who  hide  themselves  under  the  mantle  of  the  truth, 
....  it  will  be  equally  unsparing  of  the  enlightened  hypocrites 
who  seek  with  honeyed  words  to  alienate  the  sons  of  Israel  from 

their  ancestral  heritage " 

228 


THE  NATIONAL  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT 

War  to  mediaeval  obscurantism,  war  to  modern 
indifference,  was  the  plan  of  his  campaign.  Ha- 
Shahar  soon  became  the  organ  of  all  in  the  ghetto 
who  thought,  felt,  and  fought, — the  spokesman  of 
the  nationalist  Maskilim,  setting  forth  their  de- 
mands as  culture  bearers  and  patriots. 

At  a  time  when  Hebrew  literature  consisted 
mainly  of  translations  or  works  of  minor  signifi- 
cance, Smolenskin  had  the  boldness  to  announce 
that  the  columns  of  his  periodical  would  be  open 
to  writers  of  original  articles  only.  The  era  of  the 
translator  and  the  vapid  imitator  had  come  to  a 
close.  A  new  school  of  original  writers  stepped 
upon  the  boards,  and  little  by  little  the  reading 
public  accustomed  itself  to  give  preference  to  them. 

And  at  a  time  when  disparagement  of  the  na- 
tional element  in  Judaism  had  been  carried  to  the 
furthest  excess,  Smolenskin  asserted  Judaism's 
right  to  exist,  in  such  words  as  these : 

[The  wilfully  blind]  "  bid  us  to  be  like  all  the  other  nations, 
and  I  repeat  after  them:  Let  us  be  like  all  the  other  nations, 
pursuing  and  attaining  knowledge,  leaving  off  from  wickedness 
and  folly,  and  dwelling  as  loyal  citizens  in  the  lands  whither 
we  have  been  scattered.  Yes,  let  us  be  like  all  the  other  nations, 
unashamed  of  the  rock  whence  we  have  been  hewn,  like  the  rest 
in  holding  dear  our  language  and  the  glory  of  our  people.  It 
is  not  a  disgrace  for  us  to  believe  that  our  exile  will  once  come 

229 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

to  an  end,  ....  and  we  need  not  blush  for  clinging  to  the 
ancient  language  with  which  we  wandered  from  people  to  people, 
in  which  our  poets  sang  and  our  seers  prophesied  when  we  lived 
at  ease  in  our  own  land,  and  in  which  our  fathers  poured  out 
their  hearts  when  their  blood  flowed  like  water  in  the  sight  of 
all  ....  They  who  thrust  us  away  from  the  Hebrew  language 
meditate  evil  against  our  people  and  against  its  glory !  " 

The  reputation  of  Ha-Shahar  was  firmly  estab- 
lished by  the  publication  of  Smolenskin's  great 
novel  Ha-To'eh  be-Darke  ha-Hayyim  in  its  col- 
umns. In  this  as  in  the  rest  of  his  works,  he  is  the 
prophet  denouncing  the  crimes  and  the  depravity 
of  the  ghetto,  and  proclaiming  the  revival  of  na- 
tional dignity. 

Smolenskin  permitted  himself  to  be  thwarted 
by  nothing  in  the  execution  of  his  bold  designs, 
neither  by  the  meagreness  of  his  material  resources 
nor  by  the  animosities  which  his  fearless  course  did 
not  fail  to  arouse  among  literary  men. 

In  1872,  Smolenskin  published,  at  Vienna,  his 
masterpiece  'Am  'Olam  ("The  Eternal  People"), 
which  became  the  platform  of  the  movement  for 
national  emancipation.  Noteworthy  from  every 
point  of  view,  this  work  shows  him  to  have  been 
an  original  thinker  and  an  inspired  poet,  a  hu- 
manist and  at  the  same  time  a  patriot.  He  is  full 
of  love  for  his  people,  and  his  faith  in  its  future 

230 


THE  NATIONAL  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT 

knows  no  limits.  He  demonstrates  convincingly 
that  true  nationalism  is  not  incompatible  with  the 
final  realization  of  the  ideal  of  the  universal  broth- 
erhood of  men.  National  devotion  is  but  a  higher 
aspect  of  devotion  to  family.  In  nature  we  see 
that,  in  the  measure  in  which  the  individuality  of 
a  being  is  distinct,  its  superiority  and  its  independ- 
ence are  increased.  Differentiation  is  the  law  of 
progress.  Why  not  apply  the  law  to  human  groups, 
or  nations? 

The  sum  total  of  the  qualities  peculiar  to  the 
various  nations,  and  the  various  ways  in  wrhich  they 
respond  to  concepts  presented  to  them  from  with- 
out, these  constitute  the  life  and  the  culture  of 
mankind  as  a  whole.  While  admitting  that  the 
historical  past  of  a  people  is  an  essential  part  of 
its  existence,  he  believes  it  to  be  a  still  more  urgent 
necessity  for  every  people  to  possess  a  present  ideal, 
and  entertain  national  hopes  for  a  better  future. 
Judaism  cherishes  the  Messianic  ideal,  which  at 
bottom  is  nothing  but  the  hope  of  its  national  re- 
birth. Unfortunately,  the  modern,  unreligious 
Jew  denies  the  ideal,  and  the  orthodox  Jew  en- 
velops it  in  the  obscurity  of  mysticism. 

The  last  chapter  of  "  The  Eternal  People ", 
called  "  The  Hope  of  Israel  ",  is  pervaded  by  mag- 

231 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

nificent  enthusiasm.  For  the  first  time  in  Hebrew, 
Messianism  is  detached  from  its  religious  element. 
For  the  first  time,  a  Hebrew  writer  asserts  that 
Messianism  is  the  political  and  moral  resurrection 
of  Israel,  the  return  to  the  prophetic  tradition. 

Why  should  the  Greeks,  the  Roumanians,  desire 
a  national  emancipation,  and  Israel,  the  people  of 
the  Bible,  not?  ....  The  only  obstacle  is  the 
fact  that  the  Jews  have  lost  the  notion  of  their 
national  unity  and  the  feeling  of  their  solidarity. 

This  conviction  as  to  the  existence  of  a  Jewish 
nationality,  the  national  emancipation  dreamed  by 
Salvador,  Hess,  and  Luzzatto,  considered  a  heresy 
by  the  orthodox  and  a  dangerous  theory  by  the 
liberals,  had  at  last  found  its  prophet.  In  Smo- 
lenskin's  enthusiastic  formulation  of  it,  the  ideal 
was  carried  to  the  masses  in  Russia  and  Galicia, 
superseding  the  mystical  Messianism  they  had 
cherished  before. 

Smolenskin's  combative  spirit  did  not  allow  him 
to  rest  at  that.  The  idea  of  national  regeneration 
was  in  collision  with  the  theory,  raised  to  a  com- 
manding position  by  Mendelssohn  and  his  school, 
that  Judaism  constitutes  a  religious  confession.  In 
a  series  of  articles  ("A  Time  to  Plant,  and  a 


232 


THE  NATIONAL  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT 

Time  to  Pluck  up  that  which  is  Planted"),1  he 
deals  with  the  Mendelssohnian  theory. 

Proceeding  from  history  and  his  knowledge  of 
Judaism,  he  proves  that  the  Jewish  religion  is  not  a 
rigid  block  of  unalterable  notions,  but  rather  a  body 
of  ethical  and  philosophical  teachings  constantly 
undergoing  a  process  of  evolution,  and  changing 
its  aspect  according  to  the  times  and  the  environ- 
ment. If  this  doctrine  is  the  quintessence  of  the 
national  genius  of  the  Jew,  it  is  nevertheless  acces- 
sible, in  theory  and  in^practice,  to  whosoever  de- 
sires access.  It  is  not  the  dogmatic  and  exclusive 
privilege  of  a  sacerdotal  caste. 

This  is  the  rationale  of  Smolenskin's  opposition 
to  the  religious  dogmatism  of  Mendelssohn,  who 
had  wished  to  confine  Judaism  inside  of  the  circle 
of  Rabbinic  law  without  recognizing  its  essentially 
evolutionary  character.  Maimonides  himself  is 
not  spared  by  Smolenskin,  for  it  was  Maimonides 
who  had  set  the  seal  of  consecration  upon  logical 
dogmatism.  The  less  does  he  spare  the  modern 
school  of  reformers.  Religious  reforms,  he  freely 
admits,  are  necessary,  but  they  ought  to  be  sponta- 
neous developments,  emanations  from  the  heart  of 

-Ha-Shahar,  1875-6. 

233 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

the  believers  themselves,  in  response  to  changes  in 
the  times  and  social  relations.  They  ought  not  to 
be  the  artificial  product  of  a  few  intellectuals  who 
have  long  broken  away  from  the  masses  of  the 
people,  sharing  neither  their  suffering  nor  their 
hopes.  If  Luther  succeeded,  it  was  because  he  had 
faith  himself.  But  the  modern  Jewish  reformers 
are  not  believers,  therefore  their  work  does  not 
abide.  It  is  only  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage, of  the  religion  of  the  Jew,  his  culture,  and 
his  spirit  that  is  capable  of  replacing  the  dead 
letter  and  soulless  regulations  by  a  keen  national 
and  religious  sentiment  in  harmony  with  the  exi- 
gencies of  life.  The  next  century,  he  predicted, 
would  see  a  renewed,  unified  Judaism. 

This  is  a  summing  up  of  the  ideas  which  brought 
him  approval  and  endorsement  from  all  sides,  but 
also,  and  to  a  greater  degree,  opposition  and  ani- 
mosity, the  latter  from  the  old  followers  of  the 
German  humanist  movement.  One  of  them,  the 
poet  Gottlober,  founded,  in  1876,  a  rival  review, 
Ha-Boker  Or,  in  which  he  pleaded  the  cause  of  the 
school  of  Mendelssohn.  But  the  new  periodical, 
which  continued  to  appear  until  1881,  could  neither 
supplant  Ha-Shahar,  nor  diminish  Smolenskin's 
ardor.  Other  obstacles  of  all  sorts,  and  the  diffi- 

234 


THE  NATIONAL  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT 

culties  raised  by  the  Russian  censor,  were  equally 
ineffectual  in  halting  the  efforts  of  the  valiant  apos- 
tle of  Jewish  nationalism.  He  was  assured  the  co- 
operation of  all  independent  literary  men,  for  Smo- 
lenskin  had  never  posed  as  a  believer  in  dogmatic 
religion  or  as  its  defender.  On  the  contrary,  he 
waged  constant  war  with  Rabbinism.  He  was 
persuaded  that  an  untrammelled  propaganda,  bold 
speech  issuing  from  a  knowledge  of  the  heart  of 
the  masses  and  their  urgent  needs,  would  bring 
about  a  natural  and  peaceable  revolution,  restoring 
to  the  Jewish  people  its  free  spirit,  its  creative 
genius,  and  its  lofty  morality.  It  mattered  little 
to  him  that  the  young  had  ceased  to  be  orthodox: 
in  case  of  need,  national  feeling  would  suffice  to 
maintain  Israel.  At  this  point,  it  appears,  Smo- 
lenskin  excelled  Samuel  David  Luzzatto  and  his 
school  as  a  free-thinker.  The  Jewish  people  is  to 
him  the  eternal  people  personifying  the  prophetic 
idea,  realizable  in  the  Jewish  land  and  not  in  exile. 
The  liberalism  displayed  by  Europe  toward  the 
Jews  during  a  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  in 
his  opinion  but  a  transient  phenomenon,  and  as 
early  as  1872  he  foresaw  the  recrudescence  of 
anti-Semitism. 

This  conception  of  Jewish  life  was  welcomed 

16  235 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

by  the  educated  as  a  revelation.  The  distinction 
of  the  editor  of  Ha-Shahar  is  that  he  knew  how 
to  develop  the  ideas  enunciated  by  the  masters  pre- 
ceding him,  how  to  carry  them  to  completion,  and 
render  them  accessible  to  the  people  at  large.  He 
revealed  a  new  formula  to  them,  thanks  to  which 
their  claims  as  Jews  were  no  longer  in  contradiction 
with  the  demands  of  modern  times.  It  was  the 
revenge  taken  by  the  people  speaking  through  the 
mouth  of  the  writer.  It  was  the  echo  of  the  cry 
of  the  throbbing  soul  of  the  ghetto. 


236 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  CONTRIBUTORS  TO 
HA-SHAHAR 

Ha-Shahar  soon  became  the  centre  of  a  hot 
crusade  against  obscurantism.  The  propaganda 
it  carried  on  was  all  the  more  effectual  as  it  op- 
posed an  out-of-date -'Judaism  in  the  name  of  a 
national  regeneration,  the  deathless  ideal  of  the 
Jewish  people.  While  admitting  the  principle 
that  reforms  are  necessary,  provided  they  are  rea- 
sonable and  slowly  advanced,  in  agreement  with 
the  natural  evolution  of  Judaism  and  not  in  oppo- 
sition to  its  spirit,  Smolenskin's  review  at  the  same 
time  constituted  itself  the  focus  of  a  bold  campaign 
against  the  kind  of  religious  reform  introduced  by 
the  moderns. 

Whoever  thought,  felt,  suffered,  and  was  alive 
to  the  new  ideas,  hastened  to  range  himself  under 
the  banner  of  the  Hebrew  review  during  its  eigh- 
teen years  of  a  more  or  less  regular  existence, 
the  occasional  interruptions  being  due  to  lack 

237 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

of  funds.  Its  history  forms  an  important  chap- 
ter in  that  of  Hebrew  literature.  Smolenskin 
possessed  the  art  of  stimulating  well-tried  powers, 
and  discovering  new  talent  and  bringing  it  forward. 
The  school  of  Ha-Shahar  may  almost  be  looked 
upon  as  the  creation  of  his  strong  hand.  Gordon, 
it  is  true,  published  the  best  of  his  satires  in  Ha- 
Shahar,  and  Lilienblum  pursued  his  reform  pur- 
poses in  its  columns,  'Olam  ha-Tohu  ("The  World 
of  Chaos  "),  his  ringing  criticism  of  "  The  Hypo- 
crite ",  being  among  the  articles  written  by  him  for 
it,  in  which  he  casts  upon  Mapu's  work  the  light 
of  the  utilitarian  realism  borrowed  from  the  Rus- 
sian writers  of  his  time,  and  exposes  it  as  a  nai've, 
unreal  conception  of  Jewish  life.  Though  these 
two  veterans  gave  him  their  support,  the  larger 
number  of  the  collaborators  of  Smolenskin  made 
their  first  appearance  in  the  world  of  letters  under 
his  auspices,  and  it  was  due  to  his  influence  that 
German  and  Austrian  scholars  returned  to  the  use 
of  Hebrew.  On  the  other  hand,  the  co-operation 
of  eminent  professors,  such  as  Heller,  David  Mul- 
ler,  and  others,  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  suc- 
cess of  Ha-Shahar. 

The  Galician  novelist  Mordecai  D.  Brandstat- 
ter  is  properly  reckoned  among  the  best  of  the  con- 

238 


THE  CONTRIBUTORS  TO  HA-SHAHAR 

tributors  to  the  review.  His  novels,  a  collected 
edition  of  which  appeared  in  1891,  are  of  distin- 
guished literary  interest.  Brandstatter  is  the 
painter  of  the  customs  and  manners  of  the  Galician 
Hasidim,  whom  he  rallies  with  kindliness  that  yet 
has  a  keen  edge,  and  with  perfect  artistic  taste. 
Almost  he  is  the  only  humorist  of  the  time.  His 
style  is  classic  without  going  to  extremes.  He 
often  makes  use  of  the  Talmudic  jargon  peculiar 
to  Rabbinical  scholars,  whom  he  has  the  skill  to 
transfer  to  his  canvas  down  to  their  slightest  ges- 
tures and  mannerisms.  But  he  does  not  restrain 
his  wit  in  showing  up  the  ridiculous  side  of  the 
moderns  as  well.  His  best-known  novels,  which 
have  been  translated  into  Russian  and  into  Ger- 
man, are  "  Doctor  Alfasi  ",  "  Mordecai  Kiso- 
witz  ",  "  The  Beginning  and  the  End  of  a  Quar- 
rel ",  etc.  Brandstatter  also  wrote  satires  in 
verse.  He  has  not  a  few  points  of  resemblance  to 
the  painter  of  Galician  Jewish  manners  in  German, 
Karl  Emil  Franzos. 

Solomon  Mandelkern,  the  erudite  author  of  a 
new  Biblical  Concordance,  hailing  from  Dubno 
(1846-1902),  was  an  inspired  poet.  His  histori- 
cal pieces,  his  satires,  and  his  epigrams,  published 
for  the  most  part  in  Ha-Shahar,  have  finish  and 

239 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

grace.  In  his  Zionist  poems,  he  gives  evidence  of 
an  enlightened  patriotism.  His  popularity  he 
gained  by  a  detailed  history  of  Russia  (Dibre 
Yeme  Russia)  in  three  volumes,  published  at 
Wilna,  in  1876,  and  a  number  of  other  works,  all 
written  in  a  pure,  Biblical  style  at  once  beautiful 
and  lively. 

Jehudah  Lob  Levin  (born  in  1845),  surnamed 
Yehallel,  another  poet  who  was  an  habitual  con- 
tributor to  Ha-Shahar,  owes  his  fame  to  the  fer- 
vent realism  of  his  poems,  which,  however,  suffer 
from  pompousness  and  prolixity.  His  first  ap- 
pearance in  the  review  was  with  a  collection  of 
poems,  Sifte  Renanot  ("  The  Lips  of  Song"),  in 
1867.  A  long,  realistic  poem  of  his,  Kishron  ha- 
Maaseh  ("  The  Value  of  Work  "),  in  which  he 
extols  the  unrivalled  place  of  work  in  the  universe, 
also  was  published  in  Ha-Shahar.  In  this  poem, 
as  well  as  in  his  prose  articles,  he  ranged  himself 
with  Lilienblum  in  demanding  a  reshaping  of  Jew- 
ish life  on  an  utilitarian,  practical  basis. 

The  criticism  of  Jewish  customs  and  manners 
was  brilliantly  done  by  M.  Cahen  and  Ben-Zebi, 
to  mention  only  two  among  the  many  journalists 
of  talent.  The  "  Letters  from  Mohilew  "  by  the 
former  testify  to  the  impartiality  and  independ- 

240 


THE  CONTRIBUTORS  TO  HA-SHAHAR 

ence,  not  only  of  the  author,  but  also  of  the  editor 
who  accepted  them  for  his  periodical.  Ben-Zebi 
wrote  "  Letters  from  Palestine  ",  in  which  he  de- 
picts the  ways  of  the  rapacious  notables  of  the 
old  school  in  his  country. 

Science,  historical  and  philosophical,  found  a 
sure  welcome  in  Ha-Shahar.  Smolenskin  knew 
how  to  arouse  the  interest  of  the  educated  in  these 
branches,  which  had  been  neglected  by  writers  of 
Hebrew  in  Russia.  Besides  such  well-known  names 
as  Chwolson,  the  eminent  professor,  Harkavy,  the 
indefatigable  explores  of  Jewish  history  in  the 
Slav  countries,  and  Gurland,  the  learned  chronicler 
of  the  persecutions  of  the  Jews  in  Poland,  it  is 
proper  to  make  mention  of  David  Kahana,  one  of 
the  most  eminent  of  the  scientific  contributors  to 
Ha-Shahar,  a  scholar  of  distinction,  who  has  suc- 
ceeded in  throwing  light  upon  the  obscure  epoch  of 
the  false  Messiahs  and  on  the  origin  of  Hasidism. 

Dr.  Solomon  Rubin's  ingenious  philosophical 
studies  on  the  origin  of  religions  and  the  history 
of  ancient  peoples  were  also  for  the  most  part  pub- 
lished in  Ha-Shahar.  Lazarus  Schulman,  the  au- 
thor of  humorous  tales,  wrote  a  painstaking  analy- 
sis of  Heine  for  Smolenskin's  periodical.  Other 
contributors  to  the  scientific  department  were 

241 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Joshua  Lewinsohn,  Schorr,  Jehiel  Bernstein, 
Moses  Ornstein,  Dr.  Kantor,  and  Dr.  A.  Poriess, 
the  last  of  whom  was  the  author  of  an  excellent 
treatise  on  physiology  in  Hebrew.  The  produc- 
tions of  these  writers  did  more  for  the  spread  of 
enlightenment  than  all  the  exhortations  of  the 
reformers. 

Of  litterateurs,  the  novelist  Braudes,  and  the 
poets  Menahem  M.  Dolitzki  and  Zebi  Schere- 
schewsky,  etc.,  made  their  first  appearance  in  the 
columns  of  Ha-Shahar. 

The  impetus  issuing  from  Ha-Shahar  was  visible 
on  all  fields  of  Judaism.  The  number  of  Hebrew 
readers  increased  considerably,  and  the  interest  in 
Hebrew  literature  grew.  The  eminent  scholar  I. 
H.Weiss  published  his  five-volume  History  of  Tra- 
dition (Dor  Dor  we-Doreshaw}  in  Hebrew 
(Vienna,  1883-1890).  Though  it  was  a  purely 
scientific  work,  laying  bare  the  successive  steps  in 
the  natural  development  of  Rabbinic  law,  it  pro- 
duced a  veritable  revolution  in  the  attitude  of  the 
orthodox  of  the  backward  countries. 

As  was  mentioned  above,  Gottlober  founded  his 
review,  Ha-Boker  Or,  in  1876,  to  ensure  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  humanist  tradition  and  defend  the 
theories  of  the  school  of  Mendelssohn.  The  last 

242 


THE  CONTRIBUTORS  TO  HA-SHAHAR 

of  the  followers  of  German  humanism  rallied 
about  it, — Braudes  published  his  principal  novel 
"  Religion  and  Life  "  in  it, — and  it  also  attracted 
the  last  representatives  of  the  Melizah,  like  Wechs- 
ler  (Ish  Naomi],  who  wrote  Biblical  criticism  in 
an  artificial,  pompous  style. 

This  artificiality,  fostered  in  an  earlier  period 
by  the  Melizim,  had  by  no  means  disappeared  from 
Hebrew  literature.  Its  most  popular  devotees  in 
the  later  day  of  which  we  are  speaking  were,  be- 
sides Kalman  Schulman,  A.  Friedberg,  who  wrote 
a  Hebrew  adaptation  of  Grace  Aguilar's  tale, 
"The  Vale  of  Cedars",  published  in  1876,  and 
Ramesh,  the  translator  of  "  Robinson  Crusoe." 

Translations  continued  to  enjoy  great  vogue,  and 
it  was  vain  for  Smolenskin,  in  the  introduction  to 
his  novel  Ha-To'eh  be-Darke  ha-Hayyim,  to  warn 
the  public  against  the  abuses  of  which  translators 
were  guilty.  The  readers  of  Hebrew  sought,  be- 
sides novels,  chiefly  works  on  the  natural  sciences 
and  on  mathematics,  especially  astronomy.  Among 
the  authors  of  original  scientific  books,  Hirsch 
Rabinowitz  should  be  given  the  first  place,  as  the 
writer  of  a  series  of  treatises  on  physics,  chemistry, 
etc.,  which  appeared  at  Wilna,  between  the  years 
1866  and  1880.  After  him  come  Lerner,  Mises, 
Reifmann,  and  a  number  of  others. 

243 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

The  period  was  also  prolific  in  periodicals  rep- 
resenting various  tendencies.  At  Jerusalem  ap- 
peared Ha-Habazzelet,  Shaare  Ziyyon  ("The 
Gates  of  Zion"),  and  others.  On  the  American 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  the  review  Ha-Zofeh  be-Erez 
Nod  ("  The  Watchman  in  the  Land  of  the  Wan- 
derer") reflected  the  fortunes  and  views  of  the 
educated  among  the  immigrants  in  the  New 
World.  Even  the  orthodox  had  recourse  to  this 
modern  expedient  of  periodicals  in  their  endeavor 
to  put  up  a  defense  of  Rabbinism.  The  journal 
Ha-Yareah  ("The  Moon"),  and  particularly 
Mahazike  ha-Dat  ("  The  Pillars  of  the  Faith  "), 
both  issued  in  Galicia,  were  the  organs  of  the  faith- 
ful in  their  opposition  to  humanism  and  progress. 
Ha-Kol,  the  journal  founded  by  Rodkinson  ( 1876- 
1880),  with  reform  purposes,  played  a  role  of 
considerable  importance  in  the  conflict  between  the 
two  parties. 

Already  tendencies  were  beginning  to  crop  up 
radically  different  from  any  Judaism  had  betrayed 
previously.  In  1877,  when  Smolenskin  was  pub- 
lishing his  weekly  paper  Ha-Mabbit  ("The  Ob- 
server"), Freiman  founded  the  first  Socialistic 
journal  in  Hebrew,  Ha-Emet  ("The  Truth"). 
It  also  appeared  in  Vienna.  And,  again,  S.  A. 

244 


THE  CONTRIBUTORS  TO  HA-SHAHAR 

Salkindson,  a  convert  from  Judaism,  the  author  of 
admirable  translations  of  "  Othello  "  (1874)  and 
"Romeo  and  Juliet"  (1878),  both  published 
through  the  endeavors  of  Smolenskin,  brought  out 
the  Hebrew  translation  of  an  epic  wholly  Christian 
in  character,  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost  ".  It  was 
a  sign  of  the  times  that  this  work  of  art  was  en- 
joyed and  appreciated  by  the  educated  Hebrew 
public  in  due  accordance  with  its  literary  merits. 

The  clash  of  opinions  and  tendencies  encouraged 
by  the  authority  and  the  tolerance  of  Smolenskin 
was  fruitful  of  result^.  Ha-Shahar  had  made  it- 
self the  centre  of  a  synthetic  movement,  progres- 
sive and  national,  which  was  gradually  revealing 
the  outline  of  its  plan  and  aims.  The  reaction 
caused  by  the  unexpected  revival  of  anti-Semitism 
in  Germany,  Austria,  Roumania,  and  Russia,  had 
levelled  the  last  ruins  of  German  humanism  in  the 
West,  and  had  put  disillusionment  in  the  place  of 
dreams  of  equality  in  the  East.  Whoever  re- 
mained faithful  to  the  Hebrew  language  and  to 
the  ideal  of  the  regeneration  of  the  Jewish  people, 
turned  his  eyes  toward  the  stout-hearted  writer 
who  ten  years  earlier  had  predicted  the  overthrow 
of  all  humanitarian  hopes,  and  had  been  the  first 
to  propose  the  practical  solution  of  the  Jewish 
problem  by  means  of  national  reconstruction. 

245 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Smolenskin's  fame  had  by  this  time  transcended 
the  circle  of  his  readers  and  those  interested  in 
Hebrew  literature.  The  Alliance  Israelite  Univer- 
selle  entrusted  to  him  the  mission  of  investigating 
the  conditions  of  the  life  of  the  Roumanian  Jews. 
During  his  stay  in  Paris,  Adolphe  Cremieux,  the 
tireless  defender  of  the  oppressed  of  his  race, 
agreed,  in  conversation  with  him,  that  only  those 
who  know  the  Hebrew  language,  hold  the  key  to 
the  heart  of  the  Jewish  masses,  and,  Cremieux  con- 
tinued, he  would  give  ten  years  of  his  life  to  have 
known  Hebrew.1 

The  war  of  1877  between  Russia  and  Turkey, 
and  the  nationalistic  sentiments  it  engendered 
everywhere  in  Eastern  Europe,  awakened  a  patri- 
otic movement  among  the  Jewish  youth  who  had 
until  then  resisted  the  idea  of  national  emancipa- 
tion. A  young  student  in  Paris,  a  native  of  Lithu- 
ania, Eliezer  Ben-Jehudah,  published  two  articles 
in  Ha-Shahar,  in  1878,  in  which,  setting  aside  all 
religious  notions,  he  urged  the  regeneration  of  the 
Jewish  people  on  its  ancient  soil,  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  Biblical  language. 

In  1880,  Smolenskin,  who  had  undertaken  a  new 

'Brainin,   in  his  admirable  "Life  of  Smolenskin",  Warsaw, 
1897,  p.  58;  Ha-Shahar,  X,  522. 

246 


THE  CONTRIBUTORS  TO  HA-SHAHAR 

and  complete  edition  of  his  works  in  twenty-four 
volumes,  at  Vienna,  went  on  a  tour  through  Rus- 
sia. Great  was  his  joy  when  he  noted  the  results 
produced  by  his  own  activity,  and  saw  that  he  had 
gained  the  affection  and  approval  of  all  enlightened 
classes  of  Jews.  Under  the  influence  of  Ha-Sha- 
har,  a  new  generation  had  grown  up,  free  and 
nevertheless  loyal  to  its  nativity  and  to  the  ideal 
of  Judaism.  Smolenskin's  journey  resembled  a 
triumphal  procession.  The  university  students  at 
St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow  arranged  meetings  in 
honor  of  the  Hebrew  writer,  at  which  he  was 
acclaimed  the  master  of  the  national  tongue,  the 
prophet  of  the  rejuvenation  of  his  people.  In  the 
provincial  districts,  similar  scenes  were  enacted, 
and  Smolenskin  saw  himself  the  object  of  honors 
never  before  accorded  a  Hebrew  author.  He  re- 
turned to  Vienna,  encouraged  to  pursue  the  task 
he  had  assumed,  and  full  of  hope  for  the  future. 
It  was  the  eve  of  the  cataclysm  foretold  by  the 
editor  of  Ha-Shahar. 


247 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

Smolenskin  owed  his  vast  popularity  and  his  in- 
fluence on  his  contemporaries  only  in  part  to  his 
work  as  a  journalist.  What  brought  him  close  to 
the  people  were  his  realistic  novels,  which  occupy 
the  highest  place  in  modern  Hebrew  literature. 

Smolenskin's  first  piece  of  fiction,  Ha-Gemitl 
("  The  Recompense  "),  was  published  at  Odessa, 
in  1868,  on  a  subject  connected  with  the  Polish 
insurrection.  Save  its  realistic  style,  there  was 
nothing  about  it  to  betray  the  future  novel  writer 
of  eminence. 

It  was  said  above,  that  Smolenskin  wrote  the 
early  chapters  of  his  Ha-Toeh  while  at  Odessa, 
and,  also,  he  planned  another  novel  there,  "  The 
Joy  of  the  Hypocrite ".  When  he  proposed 
working  out  the  latter  for  publication  in  Ha-Meliz, 
the  editor  rejected  the  idea  disdainfully,  saying 
that  he  preferred  translations  to  original  stories, 
so  little  likely  did  it  seem  that  realistic  writing 
could  be  done  in  Hebrew.  Once  he  had  his  own 

248 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

organ,  Ha-Shahar,  Smolenskin  wrote  and  pub- 
lished novel  after  novel  in  it,  beginning  with  his 
Ha-To'eh  be-Darke  ha-Hayyim.  In  Ha-Shahar 
it  appeared  in  three  parts.  Later  it  came  out  in 
book  form,  in  four  volumes.  It  is  the  first  work 
of  the  Hebrew  realistic  school  worthy  of  being 
classed  as  such. 

As  Cervantes  makes  his  hero  Don  Quixote  pass 
through  all  the  social  strata  of  his  time,  so  the 
Hebrew  novelist  conducts  his  wanderer,  Joseph  the 
orphan,  through  the  nooks  and  corners  of  the 
ghetto.  He  introduces  him  to  all  the  scenes  of 
Jewish  life,  he  displays  before  his  eyes  all  its  cus- 
toms and  manners,  he  makes  him  a  witness  to  all  its 
superstitions,  fanaticism,  and  sordidness  of  every 
kind,  a  physical  and  social  abasement  that  has  no 
parallel.  A  faithful  observer,  an  impressionist,  an 
unemphatic  realist,  he  discloses  on  every  page  mis- 
understood lives,  extravagant  beliefs,  movements, 
evils,  greatnesses,  and  miseries,  of  which  the  civil- 
ized world  had  not  the  slightest  suspicion.  It  is 
the  Odyssey  of  the  ghetto  adventurer,  the  life  and 
journeyings  of  the  author  himself,  magnified,  and 
enveloped  in  the  fictitious  circumstances  in  which 
the  hero  is  placed,  a  human  document  of  the  great- 
est significance. 

249 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Joseph,  the  orphan,  whose  father,  persecuted  by 
the  Hasidim,  disappeared,  and  whose  mother  died 
in  abject  misery,  is  received  into  the  house  of  his 
uncle,  the  same  brother  of  his  father  who  had 
caused  the  father's  ruin.  Abused  by  a  wicked  aunt 
and  driven  by  an  irresistible  hankering  after  a 
vagabond  life,  he  runs  away  from  his  foster  home. 
First  he  is  picked  up  by  a  band  of  rascally  mendi- 
cants, then  he  becomes  an  inmate  in  the  house  of  a 
Baal-Shem,  a  charlatan  wonder-worker,  and  thus 
a  changeful  existence  leads  him  to  traverse  the 
greater  part  of  Jewish  Russia.  In  a  series  of  pho- 
tographic pictures,  Smolenskin  reproduces  in  detail 
the  ways  and  exploits  of  all  the  bohemians  of  the 
ghetto,  from  the  beggars  up  to  the  peripatetic  can- 
tors", their  moral  shortcomings,  their  spitefulness, 
and  their  insolence.  Impelled  by  the  wish  to  ac- 
quire an  education,  and  perhaps  also  put  a  roof 
over  his  head,  Joseph  finally  enters  a  celebrated 
Yeshibah.  It  is  the  salvation  of  the  young  tramp. 
He  is  given  food,  he  sleeps  on  the  school  benches, 
and  he  is  rescued  from  military  service.  But  soon, 
having  incurred  disfavor  by  his  frankness,  and 
especially  because  he  is  discovered  reading  secular 
books,  in  which  he  is  initiated  by  one  of  his  fellow- 
students,  he  is  obliged  to  leave  the  Yeshibah.  By 

250 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

the  skin  of  his  teeth  he  escapes  being  packed  off 
to  the  army  as  a  soldier.  He  takes  refuge  with 
the  Hasidim,  and  has  the  good  fortune  to  find 
favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  Zaddik  ("Saint")  himself. 

But  very  soon  he  revolts  against  the  equivocal 
transports  of  the  saintly  sect.  In  his  wanderings, 
Joseph  doubtless  meets  with  good  people,  disinter- 
ested idealists,  simple  men  and  women  of  the  rank 
and  file,  Rabbis  worthy  of  the  highest  praise,  en- 
thusiastic intellectuals,  but  the  ordinary  life  of  the 
ghetto,  abnormal  and  narrow,  disgusts  him  com- 
pletely. He  departs  to  seek  a  freer  life  in  the 
West.  Passing  through  Germany  without  stop- 
ping, he  goes  on  to  London.  Everywhere  he 
makes  Jewish  society  the  object  of  study,  and 
everywhere  he  suffers  disillusionment.  Ha-To  eh 
is  a  veritable  encyclopedia  of  Jewish  life  at  the 
beginning  of  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

As  a  work  of  fiction,  the  novel  cannot  bear  in- 
spection. It  is  a  succession  of  fantastic,  sometimes 
incoherent  events,  an  artificial  complex  of  person- 
ages appearing  on  the  scene  at  the  will  of  the 
author,  and  acting  like  puppets  on  wires.  The  mi- 
raculous abounds,  and  the  characters  are  in  part 
exaggerated,  in  part  blurred. 

17  251 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  an  incomparable  work 
taken  as  a  panorama  of  realistic  scenes,  not  always 
consecutive  scenes,  but  always  absolutely  true  to 
life — a  gallery  of  pictures  of  the  ghetto. 

Joseph  is  a  painter,  a  realist  first  and  last,  and 
an  impressionist  besides.  Looking  at  the  lights 
and  shadows  of  his  picture,  we  feel  that  what  we 
see  is  not  all  pure,  spontaneous  art.  Like  Auerbach 
and  like  Dickens,  he  is  a  thinker,  a  teacher.  A 
true  son  of  the  ghetto,  he  preaches  and  moralizes. 
Sometimes  he  goes  too  far  in  his  desire  to  impress 
a  lesson.  The  reader  perceives  too  clearly  that  the 
author  has  not  remained  an  indifferent  outsider 
while  writing  his  novel.  It  is  evident  that  his  heart 
is  torn  by  contradictory  emotions — pity,  compas- 
sion, scorn,  anger,  and  love,  all  at  once. 

In  point  of  style  also  the  novel  is  a  realistic 
piece  of  work.  Smolenskin  does  not  resort  to  Tal- 
mudisms,  like  Gordon  and  Abramowitsch,  but,  also, 
he  takes  care  not  to  indulge  in  too  many  Biblical 
metaphors.  This  sometimes  necessitates  circumlo- 
cutions, and  on  the  whole  his  oratorical  manner 
leads  to  prolixity,  but  his  prose  always  remains 
pure,  flowing,  and  precise  in  the  highest  degree. 

To  illustrate  Smolenskin's  way  of  writing,  and 
all  the  peculiarity  of  the  social  life  he  depicts,  we 

252 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

cannot  do  better  than  translate  a  few  passages 
from  his  novel  dealing  with  characteristic  phases 
of  ghetto  life. 

Joseph  is  narrating  his  adventures  and  the  im- 
pressions of  his  daily  routine.  The  following  is 
his  striking  description  of  the  Heder,  the  well- 
known  primary  school  of  the  ghetto,  when  his 
uncle  first  enters  him  there  as  a  pupil : 

"  When  I  say  house,  let  not  the  reader  imagine  a  stone  struc- 
ture. What  he  would  see  is  a  small,  low  building,  somewhat 
like  a  dog's  kennel,  built  of  thin  boards,  rotten  at  that.  The 
thatch  that  covers  it  by  way  of  roof  hangs  down  to  the  ground, 
and  yet  it  cannot  keep  off  the  rain,  for  the  goats  browsing  in  the 
neighborhood  have  munched  off  half  of  it  to  satisfy  their  appetite. 
Within  there  is  a  single  room  covered  with  black  soot,  the  four 
walls  garnished  with  spider-webs,  and  the  floor  paved  with 
mortar.  On  the  eastern  wall  hangs  a  large  sheet  of  paper  with 
the  inscription,  '  Hence  blows  the  breath  of  life ',  which  not 
many  visitors  will  believe,  because,  instead  of  a  quickening 
breath,  pestilential  odors  enter  by  the  window  and  offend  the 
nostrils  of  those  whose  olfactory  nerve  has  not  lost  all  sensitive- 
ness  On  the  opposite  wall,  to  the  west,  appear  the  words, 

'  A  memorial  unto  the  destruction  of  the  Temple '.  To  this  day 
I  do  not  know  what  there  was  to  commemorate  the  fall  of  the 
Holy  Place.  The  rickety  rafters?  Or  were  the  little  creatures 
swarming  all  over  the  walls  to  remind  one  of  '  the  foxes  that 
walk  upon  the  mountain  of  Zion'? 

"  A  huge  stove  occupies  one-fourth  of  the  room-space.  Between 
the  stove  and  the  wall,  to  the  right,  is  a  bed  made  up  ready  for 

253 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

use,  and  on  the  other  side  a  smaller  one  full  of  straw  and  hay, 
and  without  bed-covers.  Opposite  to  it  stands  a  large  deal 
table  tattoed  with  marks  that  are  the  handiwork  of  the  Melam- 
med.  With  his  little  penknife,  which  was  never  out  of  his  hands, 
he  would  cut  them  into  the  wood  all  the  time  he  was  teaching 
us — figures  of  beasts  and  fowl,  and  queer  words 

"  Around  this  table  about  ten  boys  were  sitting,  some  conning 
the  Talmud  and  others  the  Bible.  One  of  the  latter,  seated  at 
the  right  of  the  teacher,  was  reading  aloud,  in  a  sing-song  voice, 
the  section  of  the  Pentateuch  assigned  for  the  following  Sabbath 
in  the  synagogue,  and  his  cantillation  blended  with  the  crooning 
of  the  teacher's  wife  as  she  sat  by  her  baby's  bed,  ....  but 
every  now  and  then  the  master's  voice  rose  and  drowned  the 
sounds  of  both,  as  the  growl  of  the  thunder  stifles  the  roar  of  the 
waves. 

"  .  .  .  .  The  teacher  was  hideous  to  behold.  He  was  short 
of  stature  and  thin,  his  cheeks  were  withered  looking,  his  nose 
long  and  aquiline.  His  two  Peot 1  were  raven  black  and  hung 
down  like  ropes  by  the  side  of  his  face.  Old  as  he  was,  his 
cheeks  showed  only  tufts  of  beard  here  and  there,  on  account  of 
his  habit  of  plucking  the  hairs  out  one  by  one  when  he  was 
absorbed  in  thought,  not  to  mention  those  plucked  out  by  his 
wife  without  the  excuse  of  thinking.  His  black  cap  shone  like 
a  buttered  roll,  his  linen  shirt  was  neither  an  Egyptian  nor  a 
Swiss  fabric,  and  his  chest,  overgrown  with  long  black  hair, 
always  showed  bare  through  the  slit  of  his  unbuttoned  shirt. 
His  linen  trousers  had  been  white  once  upon  a  time,  but  now 
they  were  picturesquely  variegated  from  the  dust  and  soot  cling- 
ing to  them,  and  by  the  stains  added  by  his  young  hopeful, 

*  See  Lev.  XIX,  27. 

254 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

when  he  sat  and  played  on  his  knees,  by  way  of  contributing 
his  share  to  the  glory  in  which  his  father  was  resplendently 

arrayed His  Zizzit  hung  down  to  his   bare   feet.     When 

my  uncle  entered  the  house,  the  teacher  jumped  up  and  ran 
hither  and  thither,  seeking  his  shoes,  but  he  could  not  find  them. 
My  uncle  relieved  him  from  his  embarrassment  by  presenting  me, 
with  the  words,  '  Here  is  a  new  pupil  for  you ! '  Calming  down, 
the  teacher  resumed  his  seat,  and  when  we  approached  him, 
he  tapped  me  on  my  cheek,  saying,  '  What  hast  thou  learnt,  my 
son  ? '  All  the  pupils  opened  their  mouth  and  eyes  in  amazement, 
and  looked  at  me  with  envy.  These  many  days,  since  they  them- 
selves were  entered  as  new  pupils  in  the  school,  they  had 
not  heard  such  gentle  words  issue  from  the  mouth  of  the 
teacher "  ^ 

This  odd  school  prepared  the  child  of  the  ghetto 
in  very  deed  for  the  life  and  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence awaiting  him.  In  the  next  higher  school, 
the  Yeshibah,  the  alma  mater  of  the  Rabbinical  stu- 
dent, the  happenings  were  no  less  curious. 

The  young  people  in  those  strange  colleges,  for 
the  most  part  precocious  urchins,  fall  into  classes, 
which,  however,  are  not  sharply  divided  off  from 
one  another.  Day  and  night  they  sit  bent  over 
the  huge  folios  of  the  Rabbis,  occupied  constantly 
with  the  study  of  the  Law.  Their  meals  are  fur- 
nished them  by  the  humble  people  of  the  town, 
often  under  deplorable  conditions,  and,  on  the 
whole,  the  life  they  lead  is  misery  not  untinged 

255 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

with  humiliation.  Such  are  the  student  years  of 
the  future  Rabbis.  And  yet  this  bohemian  exist- 
ence is  not  destitute  of  picturesque  elements  and 
attractive  features.  Frequently  it  is  at  the  Yeshi- 
bah  that  the  young  man  for  the  first  time  finds 
sincere  friends  for  whom  he  forms  a  lasting  at- 
tachment, and  they  become  his  trusted  advisers.  It 
is  a  mob  of  young  people,  enthusiastic  and  impetu- 
ous, yet  among  them  is  found  the  aristocracy  of  the 
ghetto,  those  endowed  with  extraordinary  intel- 
lectual gifts,  and  the  devotion  displayed  by  some 
of  them  to  Talmudic  knowledge  is  absolutely  sub- 
lime. 

Smolenskin    paints    a    characteristic    Yeshibah 
scene  enacted  by  these  embryonic  Talmudists: 

"  It  is  a  strange  spectacle  that  meets  the  eye  of  the  observer  on 
his  first  visit  to  the  women's  gallery  in  the  Yeshibah  [at  night- 
fall]. He  finds  it  suddenly  transformed  into  a  gathering-place 
for  merchants.  The  boys  who  have  bread  or  money,  try  their 
hands  at  trafficking,  and  those  who  have  neither  bread  nor 
money,  try  theirs  at  theft,  and  a  large  group  of  those  who  loathe 
the  one  pursuit  as  well  as  the  other,  sit  apart  and  entertain 
each  other  with  the  wonderful  exploits  of  brigands,  and  giants, 
and  witches,  and  devils,  and  evil  spirits,  who  are  abroad  at 
night  to  affright  human  beings,  and  the  dead  who  leave  their 
graves  to  terrify  the  wicked  or  cure  the  sick  with  grass  of  the 
field,  and  many  more  such  tales  that  delight  the  heart  and  soul 
of  the  listeners.  Such  things  have  I  myself  seen  even  while  the 

256 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

afternoon  and  the  evening  prayers  were  going  on  below.  I 
heard  confused  sounds.  One  would  cry  out,  '  Who  wants  bread  ?' 
And  another  would  sing  out  in  reply,  '  Who  has  bread  to  sell  ? 
Who  has  bread  to  sell  ?' — '  Here  is  bread !' — '  Will  you  take  a 
penny  for  it?' — 'Two  pennies,  and  no  less!' — 'Some  one  has 
stolen  my  bread !  V/ho  stole  my  bread  ?  ' — '  My  bread  is  first- 
class  !  Come  and  buy ! ' — '  But  I  haven't  a  red  copper ! ' — '  All 
right,  give  me  a  pledge !' — '  You  may  have  my  troubles  as  a 
pledge,  you  old  curmudgeon ! ' — '  Here  are  two  pennies,  give  me 
the  bread  ! ' — '  Get  out,  I  was  ahead  of  you ! ' — '  I  insist  upon  my 
rights,  I  was  the  first.' — '  Why,  I  handed  my  money  over  long 
ago,  it  is  my  bread.' — '  You  stole  my  bread.' — '  You  lie,  it's  my 
bread  !' — '  You're  a  liar,  a  thief,  a  robber !' — '  The  devil  take  you, 
you  hound !' — '  Wait  a  moment,  and  I'll  show  you  my  teeth,  if 
I'm  a  hound !' 

"  And  so  the  words  fly  from  mouth  to  mouth  in  the  women's 
gallery,  and  cuffs  and  blows  are  not  rare  things,  either,  and  not 
one  of  the  boys  remembers  that  the  congregation  below  is  at 
prayers.  They  go  on  trafficking  and  telling  tales  undisturbed, 
until  the  end  of  the  service,  and  then  they  return  to  their  seats, 
every  boy  to  his  own  at  the  long  tables,  which  are  lighted  each 
of  them  by  a  single  candle  for  its  whole  length.  A  dispute 
breaks  out  as  to  where  the  candle  is  to  stand.  First  one  draws 
it  up  to  himself,  and  then  another  wrests  it  from  his  hand  and 
sets  it  next  to  his  own  book,  and  finally  all  decide  to  measure 
the  table.  One  of  the  boys  takes  off  his  belt,  and  ascertains  the 
breadth  of  the  table  and  its  length,  and  the  candle  is  put  in  the 
exact  centre.  The  quarrel  is  settled,  and  the  students  begin  to 
drawl  the  text  before  them,  and  what  they  did  the  whole  live- 
long day,  they  continue  to  do  at  night. 

"  Then  one  of  them  says,  '  I  sold  my  bread  for  two  pennies '. — 
257 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

'  And  I  bought  an  apple  for  one  penny  and  a  cake  for  half  a 
penny ',  returns  another. — '  Darkness  swallow  up  the  monitor  I 
He  doesn't  give  us  enough  candles  to  light  up  the  dark ! ' — '  The 
devil  take  him !' — '  A  plague  on  him !' — '  I  am  going  on  a  visit 
home  at  Passover.' — 'Sarah  the  widow  lent  me  three  pennies.' 
"  While  the  boys  talk  thus  over  their  open  books,  their  bodies 
are  swaying  to  and  fro  like  reeds  in  a  pond,  and  their  voices 
rise  and  fall  in  the  same  sing-song  in  which  they  con  their 
texts,  all  to  deceive  the  monitor,  who,  hearing  the  usual  drawl 
and  seeing  the  rocking  bodies,  believes  the  students  to  be  busy 
at  their  tasks.  But  little  by  little,  they  forget  and  drop  out  of 
their  recitative  into  the  ordinary  conversational  tone. — '  Tell  me, 
Zabualean  [the  pupils  are  called  by  their  native  town  in  the 
Yeshibah],  don't  you  think  it's  about  time  for  the  angel  of  death 
to  come  and  carry  off  our  monitor?  Or  is  he  going  to  live 
forever?' — 'I  pray  to  God  to  afflict  his  body  with  such  ills  that 
he  cannot  come  to  the  Yeshibah.  Then  we  should  have  rest.  I 
take  good  care  not  to  ask  for  his  death.  Another  would  take 
his  place,  and  there's  no  telling  whether  he  would  not  be  worse. 
If  pain  keeps  him  abed,  we  shall  have  a  respite.' — '  But  aren't 
you  committing  a  sin,  cursing  a  deaf  man?'  interposes  one  of  the 
boys,  indignantly. — '  Look  at  that  Azubian !  A  saint,  isn't  he  ? 
Proof  enough  that  he  has  seven  sins  hidden  in  his  heart !' 
retorts  the  Zabualean. — '  No  need  of  any  such  proof !  Why,  this 
very  Azubian  could  not  resist  the  tempter,  and  is  hard  at  work 
studying  Russian.  That's  as  bad  as  bad  can  be,  you  don't  have 
to  search  out  hidden  sins.' — '  I  at  least  am  not  perverting  the 
right,'  the  Azubian  flings  out,  '  because  the  Talmud  itself  says 
that  the  law  of  the  land  is  law,  but  you  are  committing  an  actual 
sin  against  the  Torah  in  cursing  .  .  .  . '  The  sentence  was 
never  finished,  for  the  monitor  had  been  standing  behind  the 

258 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

table  observing  the  boys  for  some  time,  and  when  he  saw  the 
excitement  of  the  Azubian, — being  deaf,  he  could  not  hear  what 
he  said, — he  threw  himself  upon  him,  and,  seizing  him  by  the 
ear,  shook  him  as  violently  as  his  strength  permitted,  crying, 
'  You  wretches,  you  rebels,  there,  that's  for  you !'  and  he  beat 
another  boy  with  his  fists,  and  struck  a  third  upon  his  cheeks. — 
'  The  monitor  has  rained  profuse  kisses  upon  the  Azubian  for 
defending  him!'  one  of  the  boys  paraphrased  Proverbs,2 
drawling  in  the  approved  sing-song,  and  keeping  his  eyes  fixed 
upon  his  book.  The  others  burst  into  loud  laughter  at  the  sally. 
Even  those  who  were  still  smarting  from  the  monitor's  blows 
could  not  restrain  themselves  and  joined  in.  '  Are  you  making 
fun  of  me?  You're  not  afraid?'  thundered  the  monitor,  in 
towering  rage,  turning  this*  way  and  that,  uncertain  whom  to 
select  as  the  first  victim  of  his  heavy  hand.  Before  he  could 
collect  his  wits,  one  of  the  boys  yelled,  '  Rabbi  Isaac,  Rabbi 
Isaac,  the  candles!' — It  worked  like  a  conjurer's  charm  upon  a 
serpent.  In  an  instant  the  monitor  turned  and  ran  to  his  room 
and  searched  it.  Seeing  no  one  there,  he  sank  into  his  chair,  and 
groaned :  '  Wicked,  depraved  children !  Those  gallows-birds, 
I'll  mangle  their  flesh,  and  flay  the  skin  from  their  bones !'  and 
he  kept  on  mumbling  to  himself  in  this  strain,  until  sleep  fell 
upon  his  eyelids  shaded  by  long  eyebrows  white  as  snow,  and 
his  head  dropped  into  his  hands  resting  upon  the  table. 

"  As  soon  as  he  slept,  the  boys  resumed  their  talk,  and  my 
friend  continued  to  tell  me  about  life  in  the  Yeshibah"  .... 
'  Do  3'ou  think  that  the  Yeshibah  students  are  guileless  youths 
who  have  never  dropped  their  mother's  apron  strings?  If  you 
do,  you  are  vastly  mistaken.  They  are  up  to  all  the  tricks,  and 

1 XXVII,  6. 

259 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

the  dullest  among  them  can  show  a  thing  or  two  to  the  best  of 
the  rich  boys.  You  will  do  well  to  observe  their  ways  and  learn 
from  them.' — '  I  shall  try  to  walk  in  their  footsteps.'  .... 

"  Then  I  went  out  to  get  my  supper.  On  returning  I  found 
the  greater  part  of  the  boys  had  gone  to  sleep,  and  almost  all  the 
candles  were  out.  Only  a  few  of  the  students  were  sitting  to- 
gether and  talking.  I  sought  out  my  friend,  and  discovered  him 
lying  upon  one  of  the  tables  in  the  women's  gallery,  but  he  was 
still  awake.  '  Why  don't  you  look  for  a  place  to  lie  down  in  ?'  he 
asked  me. — '  I  shall  lie  here  next  to  you,'  I  replied. — '  No,  you 
can't  do  that.  Here  each  boy  has  a  place  in  which  he  always 
sleeps;  he  never  changes  about.  Go  down  to  the  men's  hall  and 
look  for  an  unoccupied  spot.  If  you  find  a  table,  so  much  the 
better.  If  not,  you  must  be  satisfied  with  a  bench.' — I  did  as  he 
advised.  I  found  a  long  table  in  the  men's  hall,  but  hardly  was 
I  stretched  out  upon  it  when  a  boy  took  me  by  the  scruff  of  my 
neck  and  shook  me,  saying :  '  Get  out,  this  is  my  place !  And 
all  the  tables  here  are  taken  by  boys  who  came  to  the  Yeshibah 
long  ahead  of  you.  You  must  look  for  another  place.' 

"  Not  very  much  pleased,  I  slipped  down  from  the  table,  and 
lay  on  the  bench.  But  I  could  not  go  to  sleep.  I  was  not  ac- 
customed to  the  narrow  board,  nor  to  sleep  without  a  bed-cover, 
and  the  little  and  big  insects  that  swarmed  in  the  cracks  of  the 
wood  came  forth  from  their  nests  and  tickled  me  all  over  my 
body.  But  there  was  nothing  to  do,  and  I  lay  there  in  discom- 
fort until  all  the  lights  were  extinguished.  Only  one  light  of  all 
burnt  the  whole  night,  the  Ner  tamid,  and  under  it  sat  two 
students,  the  'watchers'  [whose  duty  it  was  to  continue  at  their 
task  until  morning,  so  that  the  study  of  the  Law  might  not  be 
interrupted  day  or  night]." 

260 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

A  life  full  of  excitement,  of  which  the  above  is 
a  specimen,  was  not  likely  to  displease  so  adven- 
turous a  spirit  as  Joseph's.  When  all  is  said,  the 
Yeshibah  provided  a  living  for  the  young  people, 
not  overabundant,  it  is  true,  but  at  least  they  were 
'relieved  of  material  cares.  The  pious  middle  class 
Jews,  and  even  the  poor,  considered  it  their  duty 
to  supply  the  needs  of  the  young  Talmudists,  and 
the  ambition  of  the  latter  was  satisfied  by  the  gen- 
eral good  feeling  that  prevailed  in  their  favor. 
For  the  aristocracy  among  the  Jews,  whose  minds 
had  not  yet  been  stimulated  by  the  new  ideas,  the 
Yeshibah  was  the  home  of  all  the  virtues,  the 
school  in  which  the  ideal  was  pursued,  and  lofty 
dreams  were  dreamed. 

In  another  novel,  "  The  Joy  of  the  Hypocrite," 
which  appeared  in  Vienna,  in  1872,  Smolenskin 
extols  the  idealism  of  his  hero  Simon,  a  product  of 
the  Yeshibah : 

"  Who  had  implanted  in  the  mind  of  Simon  the  ideal  of  justice 
and  the  sublime  word  ?  Who  had  kindled  in  his  soul  the  sacred 
flame,  love  of  truth  and  research?  Verily,  he  had  found  all 
these  in  the  Yeshibah.  Glory  and  increase  be  to  you,  ye  holy 
places,  last  refuges  of  Israel's  real  heritage!  From  your  portals 
came  forth  the  elect  destined  from  birth  to  be  the  light  of  their 
people  and  breathe  new  life  into  the  dry  bones." 

261 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Even  during  the  period  of  the  Behalah  ("  Ter- 
ror") the  Yeshibah  remained  unscathed,  beyond 
the  reach  of  misery  and  baseness.  The  venal  job- 
bers, who,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Kahal,  de- 
livered the  sons  of  the  poor  to  the  army  in  order  to 
shield  the  rich,  did  not  dare  invade  the  Rabbinical 
schools.  Like  the  Temple  in  ancient  times,  the 
Yeshibot  offered  a  sure  refuge.  Whenever  these 
sanctuaries  were  imperilled,  national  sentiment  was 
aroused,  and  the  threatened  encroachments  upon 
the  last  national  treasure  were  resisted  with  bitter 
determination,  for  the  idealism  of  the  people  of 
the  ghetto,  their  hope  and  their  faith,  were  en- 
shrined there. 

Joseph  forfeited  the  privilege  of  sanctuary  re- 
siding in  the  Yeshibah  on  the  day  he  was  taken  red- 
handed,  in  the  act  of  reading  a  profane  book.  Re- 
ligious fanaticism  had  never  proceeded  with  so 
much  rigor  as  during  the  reign  of  terror  following 
upon  the  disorganization  of  the  social  life  of  the 
Jews  by  the  authorities,  and  the  triumphant  asser- 
tion of  arbitrary  power.  Nevertheless,  even  at 
this  disheartening  juncture,  the  Rabbinical  schools 
were  the  asylum  of  whatever  of  ideal  or  sublime 
there  remained  in  Israel. 

They  furnished  all  the  champions  of  humanism 

262 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

and  the  preachers  and  disseminators  of  civiliza- 
tion. In  them  Joseph  met  the  generous  comrades 
who  introduced  him  to  the  Haskalah,  and  awak- 
ened love  for  the  noble  and  the  good  in  him,  and 
boundless  devotion  to  his  people. 

Hard  as  flint  toward  the  inefficient  leaders,  with- 
out pity  for  the  hypocrites  and  the  fanatics,  the 
heart  of  Joseph  yet  pulsated  with  love  for  the  Jew- 
ish masses.  Their  unsympathetic  surroundings 
and  the  persecutions  to  which  they  were  exposed 
but  increased  his  compassion  for  the  straying  flock 
of  his  people.  In  the  general  degradation,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  rising  to  moral  heights,  and  so  could  set 
himself  up  for  an  impartial  judge.  He  did  not 
permit  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  the  sadness 
of  the  moment,  though  he  did  not  remain  indif- 
ferent to  it,  and  his  heart  bled  at  the  thought  of 
his  people's  sufferings.  In  the  human  desert,  in 
which  he  delighted  to  disport  himself,  he  discov- 
ered noble  characters,  lofty  sentiments,  generous 
friendships,  and,  above  all,  lives  devoted  entirely 
to  the  pursuit  of  the  ideal  undeterred  by  any 
obstacle. 

One  after  the  other  he  presents  the  idealists  of 
the  ghetto  to  the  reader.  There  is,  first  of  all, 
Jedidiah,  the  common  type  of  the  Maskil,  work- 

263 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

ing  zealously  for  culture,  spreading  truth  and  light 
in  all  the  circles  he  can  reach,  dreaming  of  a  Juda- 
ism, just,  enlightened,  exalted.  Then  there  are  the 
ardent  young  apostles,  like  that  noble  friend  of 
Joseph,  Gideon,  most  enlightened  and  most  toler- 
ant of  Maskilim.  In  the  measure  in  which  Gideon 
detests  fanaticism,  he  loves  the  people.  He  loves 
the  masses  with  the  heart  of  a  patriot  and  the  soul 
of  a  prophet.  He  loves  them  exactly  as  they  are, 
with  their  beliefs,  their  simple  faith,  their  poor, 
submissive  lives,  their  ambitions  as  the  chosen  peo- 
ple, and  their  Messianic  hope,  to  which  he  himself 
clings,  though  in  a  way  less  mystical  than  theirs. 
Thrilling,  patriotic  exaltation  pervades  the  chap- 
ter on  "  The  Day  of  Atonement."  There  Smo- 
lenskin  appears  as  a  genuine  romanticist. 

Such  in  outline  are  the  features  of  this  chaotic, 
superb  novel,  which,  in  spite  of  its  faults  of  tech- 
nique, remains  to  this  day  the  truest  and  the  most 
beautiful  product  of  neo-Hebrew  literature. 

Ten  years  after  finishing  it,  the  author  added  a 
fourth  part,  which,  on  the  whole,  is  nothing  but 
an  artificial  collection  of  letters  relating  only  in- 
directly to  the  main  story.  Joseph  takes  us  with 
him  through  the  Western  lands,  and  then  to  Rus- 

264 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

sia,  whither  he  returns.  In  France  and  in  England, 
he  deplores  the  degeneracy  of  Judaism,  attributing 
it  to  the  ascendency  of  the  Mendelssohnian  school, 
and  he  foresees  the  approach  of  anti-Semitism.  In 
Russia,  he  notes  the  prevalence  of  economic  misery 
in  frightful  proportions,  especially  in  the  small 
rural  towns,  while  in  the  large  centres  he  regrets 
to  see  that  the  communities  use  every  effort  to 
imitate  Occidental  Judaism  with  all  its  faults.  The 
overhasty  culture  of  the  Russian  Jews,  weakly  cor- 
related with  the  economic  and  political  conditions 
under  which  they  lived,  was  bound  to  bring  on  the 
breaking  up  of  the  passive  idealism  which  consti- 
tuted their  chief  strength. 

The  novel  Keburat  Hamor  ("  The  Burial  of 
the  Ass  ")  is  the  most  elaborate  and  the  most  fin- 
ished of  Smolenskin's  works.  It  describes  the  time 
of  the  "  Terror  "  and  the  domination  of  the  Kahal. 
The  hero,  Hayyim  Jacob,  is  a  wag,  but  pleasant- 
ries are  not  always  understood  in  the  ghetto,  and 
he  is  made  to  pay  for  them.  His  practical  jokes 
and  his  small  respect  for  the  notables  of  the  com- 
munity, whom  he  dares  to  defy  and  poke  fun  at, 
are  his  ruin. 

He  was  scarcely  more  than  a  child  when  he  was 
guilty  of  unprecedented  conduct.  Wrapped  in  blue 

265 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

drapery,  like  a  corpse  risen  from  the  grave,  and 
spreading  terror  wherever  he  appeared,  he  made 
his  way  one  evening  into  the  room  in  which  cakes 
were  stored  for  the  next  day's  annual  banquet  of 
the  Hebrah  Kadisha  ("  Holy  Brotherhood  "),  the 
all-powerful  society,  organized  primarily  to  per- 
form the  last  rites  and  ceremonies  for  the  dead, 
to  which  the  best  Jews  of  a  town  belong.  He  got 
possession  of  all  the  dainty  morsels,  and  made 
away  with  them.  It  was  an  unpardonable  crime, 
high  treason  against  saintliness.  An  inquiry  was 
ordered,  but  the  culprit  was  not  discovered. 

In  revenge,  the  Brotherhood  ordained  the 
"  burial  of  an  ass  "  for  the  nameless  criminal,  and 
the  verdict  was  recorded  in  the  minutes  of  the 
society. 

The  incorrigible  Hayyim  Jacob  continues  to  per- 
petrate jokes,  and  the  Kahal  decides  to  surrender 
him  to  the  army  recruiting  officer.  Warned  be- 
times, he  is  able  to  make  good  his  escape.  He  re- 
turns to  his  native  town  later  on  under  an  assumed 
name,  imposes  upon  everybody  by  his  scholarship, 
and  marries  the  daughter  of  the  head  of  the  com- 
munity. But  his  natural  inclinations  get  the  upper 
hand  again.  Meantime,  he  has  confided  the  tale 
of  his  youthful  tricks  to  his  wife.  She  is  disturbed 

266 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

by  what  she  knows,  she  cannot  endure  the  idea  of 
the  unparalleled  punishment  that  awaits  her  hus- 
band should  he  be  identified,  for  to  undergo  the 
"  burial  of  an  ass  "  is  the  supremest  indignity  that 
can  be  offered  to  a  Jew.  The  body  of  the  offender 
is  dragged  along  the  ground  to  the  cemetery,  and 
there  it  is  thrown  into  a  ditch  made  for  the  purpose 
behind  the  wall  enclosing  the  grounds.  But  was 
not  her  father  the  head  of  the  community?  Could 
he  not  annul  the  verdict?  She  discloses  the  secret 
to  him,  and  the  effect-is  to  fill  him  with  instanta- 
neous rage:  What!  to  that  wicked  fellow  he  has 
given  his  daughter,  to  that  heretic!  He  wants  to 
force  him  to  give  up  his  wife,  but  no  more  than  the 
husband  will  the  woman  listen  to  any  such  proposal. 
Hayyim  Jacob  succeeds  in  ingratiating  himself 
with  his  father-in-law,  though  by  fraud  and  only 
for  a  short  time.  After  that,  one  persecution  after 
another  is  inflicted  upon  him,  and  he  succumbs. 
So  much  for  the  background  upon  which  the1 
novelist  has  painted  his  scenes,  authentic  reproduc- 
tions from  the  life  of  the  Jews  in  Russia.  The 
character  of  Hayyim  Jacob  stands  out  clear  and 
forceful.  His  wife  Esther  is  the  typical  Jewish 
woman,  loyal  and  devoted  unto  death,  of  irre- 
proachable conduct  under  reverses  of  fortune,  and 

18  267 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

braving  a  world  for  love  of  her  husband.  The 
prominent  characters  of  the  ghetto  are  drawn  with 
fidelity,  though  the  colors  are  sometimes  laid  on 
too  thick.  The  author  has  been  particularly  happy 
in  re-creating  the  atmosphere  of  the  ghetto,  with 
its  contradictions  and  its  passions,  the  specialized 
intellectuality  which  long  seclusion  has  forged  for 
it,  and  its  odd,  original  conception  of  life. 

Smolenskin  goes  to  the  Yeshibah  for  the  subject 
of  one  of  his  novels,  Gemul  Yesharim  ("The 
Recompense  of  the  Righteous  ").  The  author  de- 
scribes the  part  played  by  the  Jewish  youth  in  the 
Polish  insurrection.  The  ingratitude  of  the  Poles 
proves  that  the  Jews  have  nothing  to  expect  from 
others,  and  they  should  count  only  upon  their  own 
resources. 

Gaon  we-Sheber  ("  Greatness  and  Ruin  ")  is  a 
collection  of  scattered  novelettes,  some  of  which 
are  veritable  works  of  art. 

Ha-Yerushah  ("The  Inheritance")  is  the  last 
of  Smolenskin's  great  novels.  It  was  first  published 
in  Ha-Shah&r,  in  1 880-81.  Its  three  volumes  are 
full  of  incoherencies  and  long  drawn  out  argu- 
ments. The  life  of  the  Jews  of  Odessa,  however, 
and  of  Roumania,  is  well  depicted,  and  also  the 
psychologic  stages  through  which  the  older  human- 

268 


THE  NOVELS  OF  SMOLENSKIN 

ists  pass,  deceived  in  their  hopes,  and  groping  for 
a  return  to  national  Judaism. 

Smolenskin's  last  novel,  Nekam  Berit  ("  Holy 
Vengeance",  Ha-Shahar,  1884),  is  wholly  Zion- 
istic.  It  was  the  author's  swan  song.  Not  long 
after  its  completion,  an  illness  carried  him  off. 

The  novels  of  Smolenskin  are  a  series  of  social 
documents  and  propagandist  writings  rather  than 
works  of  pure  art.  Their  chief  defects  are  the 
incoherence  of  the  action,  the  artificiality  of  the 
denouement,  their  simplicity  in  all  that  concerns 
modern  life,  as  well  as  their  excessive  didactic  ten- 
dencies and  the  long-winded  style  of  the  author. 
Most  of  these  defects  he  shares  with  such  writers 
as  Auerbach,  Jokai,  and  Thackeray,  with  whom 
he  may  be  placed  in  the  same  class.  In  passing 
judgment,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  He- 
brew writer's  life  was  one  prolonged  and  bitter 
struggle  for  bare  existence,  his  own  and  Ha-Sha- 
har's,  for  the  periodical  never  yielded  him  any 
income.  Only  his  idealism  and  the  consciousness 
of  the  useful  purpose  he  was  serving  sustained  him 
in  critical  moments.  These  circumstances  explain 
why  his  works  bear  the  marks  of  hasty  production. 
However  that  may  be,  since  he  gave  them  to  the 

269 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

Jewish  world,  his  novels  have,  even  more  than  his 
articles,  exercised  unparalleled  influence  upon  his 
readers. 

In  a  word,  the  life  of  the  Russian  ghetto,  its 
misery  and  its  passions,  the  positive  and  the  nega- 
tive types  of  that  vanishing  world,  have  been  set 
down  in  the  writings  of  Smolenskin  with  such 
power  of  realism  and  such  profound  knowledge 
of  conditions  that  it  is  impossible  to  form  a  just 
idea  of  Russo-Polish  Judaism  without  having  read 
what  he  has  written. 


270 


CHAPTER  XII 
CONTEMPORANEOUS  LITERATURE 

The  years  1881-1882  mark  off  a  distinct  era  in 
the  history  of  the  Jewish  people.  The  revival  of 
anti-Semitism  in  Germany,  the  unexpected  renewal 
of  persecutions  and  massacres  in  Russia  and 
Roumania,  the  outlawing  of  millions  of  human  be- 
ings, whose  situation  grew  less  tenable  from  day 
to  day  in  those  two  countries — such  were  the  oc- 
currences that  disconcerted  the  most  optimistic. 

In  the  face  of  the  precipitate  exodus  of  crazed 
masses  of  the  people  and  the  urgency  of  decisive 
action,  the  old  disputes  between  humanists  and 
nationalists  were  laid  aside.  There  could  be  but 
one  choice  between  impossible  assimilation  with  the 
Slav  people  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  idea,  on  the 
other  hand,  of  a  national  emancipation  divested  of 
its  mystical  envelope  and  supplied  with  a  territory 
as  a  practicable  basis.  All  the  Hebrew-writing 
authors  were  agreed  that  the  time  had  passed  for 
wrangling  over  a  divergence  of  opinions.  It  was 
imperative  that  all  forces  should  range  themselves 

271 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

on  the  side  of  action.  Even  a  skeptic  like  Gordon 
issued  at  that  time,  among  many  things  like  it,  his 
thrilling  poem :  "  We  were  a  people,  and  we  will 
a  people  be — with  our  young  and  with  our  old  will 
we  gol  " 

But  whither?  Some  decided  for  America  with 
the  Western  philanthropists,  others,  with  Smo- 
lenskin,  declared  absolutely  in  favor  of  Palestine, 
the  country  of  the  Jew's  perennial  dreams. 

Academic  discussions  of  such  questions  are  futile. 
It  may  safely  be  left  to  time  and  experience  to 
decide  between  the  two  currents  of  opinion.  As 
early  as  1880,  the  young  dreamer  Ben-Jehudah, 
inspired  with  the  idea  of  reviving  the  Hebrew  as 
a  national  language,  left  Paris  and  established  him- 
self at  Jerusalem.  And  from  Lithuania  came  the 
romantic  conservative  Pines,  forsaking  the  dis- 
tinguished position  he  occupied  there,  in  order  to 
give  his  aid  in  the  elevation  of  the  Jews  of  Pales- 
tine. The  tracks  made  by  these  two  pioneers  issu- 
ing from  opposite  camps  were  soon  trodden  by  the 
followers  of  important  movements. 

A  select  circle  of  four  hundred  university  stu- 
dents, indignant  at  the  humiliating  position  into 
which  they  had  been  forced,  thundered  forth  an 
appeal  that  resounded  throughout  the  length  and 

272 


CONTEMPORANEOUS  LITERATURE 

breadth  of  Jewish  Russia :  Bet  Ya'akob,  leku  we- 
nelekah  ("  O  House  of  Jacob,  come  ye  and  let  us 
walk").  The  practical  result  was  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  group  BILU,1  the  first  to  leave  for 
Palestine  and  establish  a  colony  there.  This  nu- 
cleus was  enlarged  by  the  accession  of  hundreds 
of  middle  class  burghers  and  of  the  educated,  and 
thus  Jewish  colonization  was  a  permanently  as- 
sured fact  in  the  Holy  Land. 

The  surprising  return  of  the  younger  genera- 
tion, who  had  wholly  broken  with  Judaism,  this 
first  step  toward  the  actual  realization  of  the  Zion- 
ist dream,  has  had  most  important  consequences 
for  the  renascence  of  Hebrew  literature.  As  for 
the  educated  element  that  had  never,  at  least  in 
spirit,  left  the  ghetto, men  like  Lilienblum,  Braudes, 
and  others,  whose  later  activity,  a  propaganda 
for  economic  reforms  and  instruction  in  manual 
trades,  had  almost  ceased  to  have  a  reason  for 
continuing, — as  for  them,  their  adhesion  to  Zion- 
ism could  not  be  long  delayed.  And  even  outside 
of  the  ghetto  a  voice  was  heard,  the  authoritative 
voice  of  Dr.  Leon  Pinsker,  announcing  his  support 
of  the  philo-Palestinian  movement,  as  it  was  then 

1  Is.   II,   5.     BILU  are  the   initials  of  the  four  words  of  the 
Hebrew  sentence  quoted  above. 

273 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

called.  In  his  brochure  "  Auto-Emancipation  ", 
the  learned  physician  of  Odessa,  one  of  the  old 
guard  of  staunch  humanists,  declares  that  the  dis- 
ease of  anti-Semitism  is  a  chronic  affection,  incur- 
able as  long  as  the  Jews  are  in  exile.  There  is  but 
one  solution  for  the  Jewish  question,  the  national 
regeneration  of  the  Jews  upon  their  ancient  soil. 

A  new  dawn  began  to  break  upon  the  horizon 
of  the  Jewish  people.  Hebrew  literature  was 
stimulated  as  never  before,  and  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  writers  incorporated  itself  in  the  spirited  pro- 
posals of  Moses  Eismann,  Professor  Schapira, 
and  a  number  of  others.  In  this  sudden  blossom- 
ing of  patriotic  ideas,  excesses  were  inevitable.  A 
chauvinistic  reaction  was  not  long  in  setting  in. 
The  religious  reformers  were  attacked,  they  were 
accused  of  hindering  a  fusion  of  diverse  parties  in 
Judaism  whose  cordial  agreement  was  indispen- 
sable to  the  success  of  the  new  movement. 

Smolenskin  alone  was  irreproachable.  He  who 
had  never  acknowledged  the  benefits  of  assimila- 
tion, had  no  need  now  to  go  to  extremes.  He  re- 
mained faithful  to  his  patriotic  ideal,  without  re- 
nouncing any  of  his  humanitarian  and  cultural 
aspirations.  The  activity  he  displayed  was  fever- 
ish. Now  that  he  no  longer  stood  alone  in  the  de- 

274 


CONTEMPORANEOUS  LITERATURE 

fense  of  his  ideas,  he  redoubled  his  efforts  with 
admirable  energy — encouraging  here,  exhorting 
there.  But  he  was  coming  to  the  end  of  his 
strength,  exhausted  by  a  life  of  struggle  and 
wretchedness,  by  long  overtaxing  of  his  physical 
and  mental  powers.  He  died  in  1885,  in  the  vigor 
of  his  years,  cut  off  by  disease.  The  whole  of 
Jewry  mourned  at  his  grave.  And  Ha-Shahar 
soon  ceased  to  exist. 

With  the  extinction  of  Ha-Shahar  we  arrive  at 
the  end  of  the  task  we  have  set  ourselves,  of  fol- 
lowing up  a  phase  of  literary  evolution.  Modern 
Hebrew  literature,  for  a  century  the  handmaiden 
of  one  preponderating  idea,  the  humanist  idea  in 
all  its  various  applications,  henceforth  enters  upon 
a  new  phase  of  its  development.  Led  back  by 
Smolenskin  to  its  national  source,  stripped  of 
every  religious  element,  and  imposed  by  the  force 
of  circumstances  upon  the  masses  and  the  educated 
alike,  as  the  link  uniting  them  thenceforth  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  same  patriotic  end,  it  has  again 
taken  its  place  as  the  language  of  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple. It  has  ceased  to  serve  as  the  mere  mediator 
between  Rabbinism  and  modern  life.  It  is  become 
an  end  in  itself,  an  important  factor  in  the  life  of 

275 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

the  Jews.  It  is  no  longer  a  parasite  flourishing  at 
the  expense  of  orthodoxy,  from  which  it  has  for  a 
century  been  luring  away  successive  generations 
of  the  best  of  the  young  men,  who,  however,  once 
emancipated,  hastened  to  abandon  that  to  which 
they  owed  their  enlightenment.  It  has  become  the 
receptacle  of  the  national  literature  of  the  Jewish 
people. 

In  1885,  when  the  distinguished  editor  of 
Ha-Zefirah,  Nahum  Sokolow,  undertook  the 
publication  of  the  great  literary  annual,  He- 
Asif  ("The  Collector"),  the  success  he  achieved 
went  beyond  the  wildest  expectations.  The  edition 
ran  up  to  seven  thousand  copies.  It  was  followed 
by  other  enterprises  of  a  similar  character,  notably 
Keneset  Yisrael  ("The  Assembly  of  Israel"), 
published  by  Saul  Phinehas  Rabbinowitz,  the 
learned  historian. 

In  1886,  the  journalist,  Jehudah  Lob  Kantor, 
encouraged  by  the  vogue  acquired  by  the  Hebrew 
language,  founded  the  first  daily  paper  in  it,  Ha- 
Yom  ("  The  Day  "),  at  St.  Petersburg.  The  suc- 
cess of  this  organ  induced  Ha-Meliz  and  Ha-Zefi- 
rah to  change  into  dailies.  A  Hebrew  political 
press  thus  came  into  being,  and  it  has  contributed 
tremendously  to  the  spread  of  Zionism  and  culture. 

276 


CONTEMPORANEOUS  LITERATURE 

Even  the  Hasidim,  who  had  until  then  remained 
contumacious  toward  modern  ideas,  were  reached 
by  its  influence.  It  was,  however,  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage that  profited  most  by  the  development  of 
journalism  in  it.  The  demands  of  daily  life  en- 
riched its  vocabulary  and  its  resources,  completing 
the  work  of  modernization. 

In  Palestine,  the  need  felt  for  an  academic  lan- 
guage common  to  the  children  of  immigrants  from 
all  countries  was  a  great  factor  in  the  practical  re- 
habilitation of  Hebrew  as  the  vernacular.  Ben- 
Jehudah  was  the  first  to  use  it  in  his  home,  in 
intercourse  with  the  members  of  his  family  and  his 
household,  and  a  number  of  educated  Jews  fol- 
lowed his  example,  not  permitting  any  other  to  be 
spoken  within  their  four  walls.  In  the  schools  at 
Jerusalem  and  in  the  newly-established  colonies,  it 
has  become  the  official  language.  A  recoil  from 
the  Palestinian  movement  was  felt  in  Europe  and 
in  America,  and  a  limited  number  of  circles  were 
formed  everywhere  in  which  only  Hebrew  was 
spoken.  The  journal  Ha-Zebi  ("The  Deer"), 
published  by  Ben-Jehudah,  became  the  organ  of 
Hebrew  as  a  spoken  language,  which  differs  from 
the  literary  language  only  in  the  greater  freedom 
granted  it  of  borrowing  modern  words  and  expres- 

277 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

sions  from  the  Arabic  and  even  from  the  European 
languages,  and  by  its  tendency  to  create  new  words 
from  old  Hebrew  roots,  in  compliance  with  forms 
occurring  in  the  Bible  and  the  Mishnah.  Here  are 
a  couple  of  examples  of  this  tendency:  The  He- 
brew word  Sha'ah  means  "  time  ",  "  hour  ".  To 
this  word  the  modern  Hebrew  adds  the  termina- 
tion on,  making  it  Shaon,  with  the  meaning 
"  watch  ",  or  "  clock  ".  The  verb  darak,  in  Bib- 
lical Hebrew  "  to  walk  ",  gives  rise  in  the  modern 
language  to  Mtdrakah,  "  pavement." 

The  spread  of  the  language  and  the  increase  in 
the  number  of  readers  together  produced  a  change 
in  the  material  condition  of  the  writers.  Their 
compensation  became  ampler  in  proportion,  the 
consequence  of  which  was  that  they  could  devote 
themselves  to  work  requiring  more  sustained  effort, 
and  what  they  produced  was  more  finished  in  detail. 
With  the  founding  of  the  publishing  society 
Ahiasaf,  and  more  particularly  the  one  called 
Tushiyah,  due  to  the  energy  of  Abraham  L.  Ben- 
Avigdor,  a  sympathetic  writer,  Hebrew  was  af- 
forded the  possibility  of  developing  naturally,  in 
the  manner  of  a  modern  language. 

There  was  a  short  interval  of  non-production, 

278 


CONTEMPORANEOUS  LITERATURE 

caused  by  the  brutality  and  sadness  of  unexpected 
events,  but  literary  creativeness  recovered  quickly, 
and  manifested  itself,  with  growing  force,  in  varied 
and  widespread  activity  worthy  of  a  literature  that 
had  grown  out  of  the  needs  of  a  national  group. 
On  the  field  of  poetry,  there  is,  first  of  all,  Con- 
stantin  Shapiro,  the  virile  lyricist,  who  knew  how 
to  put  into  fitting  words  the  indignation  and  revolt 
of  the  people  against  the  injustice  levelled  against 
them.  His  "  Poems  of  Jeshurun  "  published  in 
He-Asif  for  1888,  alive  with  emotion  and  patriotic 
ardor,  as  well  as  his  Haggadic  legends,  must  be 
put  in  the  first  rank.  After  him  comes  Menahem 
M.  Dolitzki,  the  elegiac  poet  of  Zionism,  the 
singer  of  sweet  "  Zionides."  Then  a  young 
writer,  snatched  away  all  too  early,  Mordecai  Zebi 
Manne,  who  was  distinguished  for  his  tender  lyrics 
and  deep  feeling  for  nature  and  art.3  And,  finally, 
there  is  Naphtali  Herz  Imber,  the  song-writer  of 
the  Palestinian  colonies,  the  poet  of  the  reborn 
Holy  Land  and  the  Zionist  hope.4 

Among  the  latest  to  claim  the  attention  of  the 


3  Poems  published  in  New  York,  in  1896. 

3  His  works  appeared  in  Warsaw  in  1897. 

4  Poems  published  at  Jerusalem  in  1886. 

279 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

public,  the  name  of  Hayyim  N.  Bialik5  ought  to 
be  mentioned,  a  vigorous  lyricist  and  an  incom- 
parable stylist,  and  of  S.  Tchernichovski,"  an  erotic 
poet,  the  singer  of  love  and  beauty,  a  Hebrew  with 
an  Hellenic  soul.  These  two,  both  of  them  at  the 
beginning  of  their  career,  are  the  most  brilliant  in 
a  group  of  poets  more  or  less  well  known. 

Again,  there  are  two  story-writers  that  are  par- 
ticularly prominent,  Abramowitsch,  the  old  favor- 
ite, who,  having  abandoned  Hebrew  for  a  brief 
period  in  favor  of  jargon,  returned  to  enrich  He- 
brew literature  with  a  series  of  tales,  poetic  and 
humorous,  of  incomparable  originality  and  in  a 
style  all  his  own.7  The  second  one  is  Isaac  Lob 
Perez,  the  symbolist  painter  of  love  and  misery, 
a  charming  teller  of  tales  and  a  distinguished 
artist.8 

Of  novelists  and  romancers,  in  prose  and  in 
verse,  Samuely  may  be  mentioned,  and  Goldin, 
Berschadsky,  Feierberg,  J.  Kahn,  Berditchevsky, 
S.  L.  Gordon,  N.  Pines,  Rabinovitz,  Steinberg, 
and  Loubochitzky,  to  name  only  a  few  among 

*  Poems  published  at  Warsaw  in  1902. 
6  Poems  published  at  Warsaw  in  1900-3. 
T  Collected  Tales  and  Novels,  Odessa,  1900. 
8  Works,  in  ten  volumes,  Hebrew  Library  of   Tushiyah,  1899- 
1901. 

280 


CONTEMPORANEOUS  LITERATURE 

many.  Ben-Avigdor  is  the  creator  of  the  young 
realist  movement,  through  his  psychologic  tales  of 
ghetto  life,  particularly  his  Menahem  ha-Sofer 
("  Menahem  the  Scribe"),  wherein  he  opposes 
the  new  chauvinism. 

Among  the  masters  of  the  feuilleton  are  the 
subtle  critic  David  Frischmann,  translator  of 
numerous  scientific  books;  the  writer  of  charming 
causeries,  A.  L.  Levinski,  author  of  a  Zionist  uto- 
pia,  "Journey  to  Palestine  in  the  Year  5800", 
published  in  Ha-Pardes  ("Paradise  "),  in  Odessa; 
and  J.  H.  Taviow,  the  witty  writer. 

On  the  field  of  thought  and  criticism,  the  most 
prominent  place  belongs  to  Ahad  ha-' Am,'  the  first 
editor  of  the  review  Ha-Shlloah,  a  critic  who  often 
drops  into  paradoxes,  but  is  always  original  and 
bold.  He  is  the  promoter  of  "  spiritual  Zionism  ", 
the  counterstroke  dealt  to  the  practical,  political 
movement  by  Messianic  mysticism  clothed  in  a 
somewhat  more  rational  garb  than  its  traditional 
form.  He  has  a  fine  critical  mind  and  is  an  acute 
observer,  as  well  as  a  remarkable  stylist. 

To  Ahad  ha-' Am  we  may  oppose  Wolf  Jawitz, 
the  philosopher  of  religious  romanticism,  the  de- 

9  Collected  Essays,  published  at  Odessa  in  1885,  and  at  Warsaw 
in  1901. 

281 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

fender  of  tradition,  and  one  of  the  regenerators 
of  Hebrew  style.10  Between  these  two  extremes, 
there  is  a  moderate  party,  the  foremost  represen- 
tative of  which  is  Nahum  Sokolow,  the  popular 
and  prolific  editor  of  Ha-Zefirah,  prominent  at 
once  as  a  writer  and  a  man  of  action.  Dr.  S.  Bern- 
feld  also  deserves  mention,  as  the  admirable 
popularizer  of  the  Science  of  Judaism,  and  an  ex- 
cellent historian,  the  author  of  a  history  of  Jewish 
theology  recently  published  at  Warsaw. 

Among  the  latest  claimants  of  public  attention  is 
M.  J.  Berditchevsky,  author  of  numerous  tales 
bordering  upon  the  decadent,  but  not  wholly  bare 
of  the  spirit  of  poetry.  David  Neumark  takes 
rank  as  a  thinker.  Philology  is  worthily  repre- 
sented by  Joshua  Steinberg,  author  of  a  scientific 
grammar  on  original  lines,11  not  yet  known  to  the 
scholars  of  Europe,  and  translator  of  the  Sibylline 
books.  Fabius  Mises  has  published  a  history  of 
modern  philosophy  in  Europe,  and  J.  L.  Katzen- 
elenson  is  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  anatomy  and 
of  a  number  of  literary  works  acceptable  to  the 

10 Ha-Arez,  published  at  Jerusalem  in  1893-96;  "History  of 
the  Jews",  published  at  Wilna,  1898-1902,  etc. 

"Ma'arke  Leshon  Eber  ("The  Principles  of  the  Hebrew  Lan- 
guage"), Wilna,  1884,  etc. 

282 


CONTEMPORANEOUS  LITERATURE 

public.  Then  there  are  Leon  Rabinovich,  editor 
of  Ha-Meliz,  David  Yellin,  Lerner,  A.  Kahana, 
and  others. 

The  history  of  modern  literature  has  found  a 
worthy  representative  in  the  person  of  Reuben 
Brainin,  a  master  of  style,  himself  the  author  of 
popular  tales.  His  remarkable  studies  of  Mapu, 
Smolenskin,  and  other  writers,  are  conceived  and 
executed  according  to  the  approved  methods  of 
modern  critics.  They  have  done  good  work  in 
refining  the  taste  and  aesthetic  feeling  of  the  He- 
brew-reading public. 

All  these,  and  a  number  of  others,  have  given 
the  Hebrew  language  an  assured  place.  To  their 
original  works  must  be  added  numberless  trans- 
lations, text  books,  and  editions  of  all  sorts,  and 
then  we  can  form  a  fair  idea  of  the  actual  signifi- 
cance of  Hebrew  in  its  modern  development.  In  the 
number  of  publications,  it  ranks  as  the  third  litera- 
ture in  Russia,  the  Russian  and  the  Polish  being  the 
only  ones  ahead  of  it,  and  no  estimate  of  the  in- 
fluence it  wields  can  afford  to  leave  out  of  account 
its  vogue  in  Palestine,  Austria,  and  America. 


19  283 


CONCLUSION 

A  glance  at  modern  Hebrew  literature  as  a 
whole  reveals  a  striking  tendency  in  its  develop- 
ment, at  once  unexpected  and  inevitable.  The 
humanist  ideal,  which  stood  sponsor  at  its  rebirth, 
bore  within  itself  a  germ  of  dissolution.  For  na- 
tional and  religious  aims  it  desired  to  substitute 
the  idea  of  liberty  and  equality.  Sooner  or  later 
it  would  have  had  to  end  in  assimilation.  During 
the  course  of  a  whole  century,  from  the  appearance 
of  the  first  issue  of  Ha-Meassef,  in  1784-5,  until 
the  cessation  of  Ha-Shahar,  in  1885,  Hebrew  lit- 
erature offers  the  spectacle  of  a  constant  conflict  be- 
tween the  humanist  ideals  and  Judaism.  In  spite  of 
obstacles  of  every  kind,  and  in  spite  of  the  danger- 
ous rivalry  of  the  European  languages,  the  rivalry 
of  the  Jewish-German  itself,  the  Hebrew  language 
has  given  proof  of  persistent  vitality,  and  displayed 
surprising  power  of  adaptation  to  all  sorts  of  cir- 
cumstances and  all  departments  of  literature,  and 
widely  separated  countries  have  been  the  scene  of  its 
development.  So  far  as  the  earliest  humanists  had 

284 


CONCLUSION 

planned,  the  Hebrew  language  was  to  serve  only 
as  an  instrument  of  propaganda  and  emancipation. 
Thanks  to  the  efforts  of  Moses  Hayyim  Luzzatto, 
Mendes,  and  Wessely,  it  rose  for  a  brief  moment 
to  the  rank  of  a  truly  literary  medium,  very  soon, 
however,  to  make  way  for  the  languages  of  the 
various  countries,  while  it  receded  to  the  narrow 
confines  provided  by  the  Maskilim.  Its  final  des- 
tiny was  to  be  decided  in  Slav  lands.  In  Galicia, 
it  gave  birth,  in  the  domain  of  philosophy,  to  the 
ideal  of  the  "  mission  of  the  Jewish  people  ",  and 
to  the  "  science  of  Judaism."  But  for  the  great 
mass  of  the  Jews  remaining  faithful  to  the  Mes- 
sianic ideal,  what  was  of  greatest  significance  was 
the  national  and  religious  romanticism  expounded 
by  Samuel  David  Luzzatto. 

Lithuania,  with  its  inexhaustible  resources, 
moral  and  intellectual,  became  the  stronghold  of 
Hebrew.  In  its  double  aspect  as  a  humanistic  and 
a  romantic  force,  Hebrew  literature  bounded  for- 
ward on  new  paths  with  the  lustiness  of  youth. 
Before  long,  under  the  impetus  of  social  and  eco- 
nomic reforms,  the  Hebrew  writers  declared  war 
upon  a  Rabbinical  authority  that  rejected  every  in- 
novation, and  was  opposed  to  all  progress.  To 
meet  the  issue,  the  realistic  literature  came  forward, 

285 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

polemic  and  destructive  in  character.  A  pitiless 
combat  ensued  between  the  humanists  and  Rabbin- 
ism,  and  the  consequences  were  fateful  for  the  one 
party  as  well  as  the  other.  Rabbinism  felt  that 
its  very  essence  had  been  shaken,  and  that  it  was 
destined  to  disappear,  at  least  in  its  traditional 
form.  Humanism,  on  the  other  side,  startled  out 
of  its  dreams  of  justice  and  equality,  lost  ground, 
inch  by  inch,  by  reason  of  having  broken  with  the 
national  hope  of  the  people.  The  attempt  made 
by  some  writers  to  bring  about  the  harmonization 
of  religion  and  life  turned  out  a  lamentable  mis- 
carriage. The  antagonism  between  the  literary 
folk  and  the  mass  of  believers  ended  in  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  whole  literature  created  by  the  hu- 
manists. At  that  moment  the  progressive  national 
movement  made  its  appearance  with  Smolenskin, 
and  supplied  Hebrew  literature  with  a  purpose  and 
its  civilizing  mission. 

The  predominant  note  of  contemporary  He- 
brew literature  is  the  Zionist  ideal  stripped  of  its 
mystical  envelopes.  It  may  be  asserted  that  the 
Messianic  hope  in  this  new  form  is  in  the  act  of 
producing  a  transformation  in  Polish  Hasidic  sur- 
roundings, identical  with  that  achieved  by  human- 
ism in  Lithuania.  The  rabid  opposition  offered 

286 


CONCLUSION 

to  Hebrew  literature  by  the  Hasidim  suffices  to  con- 
firm this  prognostication  of  a  dreaded  result. 

Also  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  Slav  coun- 
tries, in  the  distant  Orient,  the  Hebrew  lion  is 
gaining  territory,  from  Palestine  to  Morocco,  and 
wherever  his  foot  treads,  culture  springs  up  and 
national  regeneration. 

Deep  down  in  the  sorely  tried  soul  of  the  Jewish 
masses,  there  reposes  a  fund  of  idealism,  and 
ardent  faith  in  a  better  future  unshaken  by  time  or 
disappointments.  Defraud  them  of  the  millennial 
ideal  which  sustains  their  courage,  which  is  the 
very  cornerstone  of  their  existence,  and  you  sur- 
render them  into  the  power  of  a  dangerous  despair, 
you  push  them  into  the  arms  of  the  demoralization 
that  lies  in  wait  everywhere,  and  in  some  coun- 
tries has  already  come  out  in  the  open. 

Hebrew  literature,  faithful  to  its  Biblical  mis- 
sion, has  within  it  the  power  of  replenishing  the 
moral  resources  of  the  masses  and  making  their 
hearts  thrill  with  enthusiasm  for  justice  and  the 
ideal.  It  is  the  focus  of  the  rays  vivifying  all  that 
breathes,  that  struggles,  that  creates,  that  hopes 
within  the  Jewish  soul. 

To   misunderstand   this  moral   bearing   of   the 

287 


THE  RENASCENCE  OF  HEBREW  LITERATURE 

renascence  of  the  Hebrew  language  is  to  fail  to 
know  the  very  life  of  the  better  part  of  Judaism 
and  the  Jew. 

Literary  creation  is  now  at  its  full  blossom,  and 
the  ferment  of  ideas  instilled  from  all  sides  is  so 
powerful  that  an  abundant  harvest  may  be  ex- 
pected. 

And  that  Bible  language  which  has  given  hu- 
manity so  many  glorious  pages,  which  has  but  now, 
thanks  to  the  humanists,  added  a  new  page,  is  it 
destined  in  very  truth  to  be  born  anew,  and  become 
once  more  the  language  of  the  national  culture  of 
the  whole  of  the  Jewish  people  ?  It  would  be  rash 
to  reply  with  a  categorical  affirmative. 

What  has  been  proved  in  the  foregoing  pages  is, 
we  believe,  that  it  exists,  and  is  developing  both 
as  a  literary  and  a  spoken  language;  that  it  has 
shown  itself  to  be  the  equal  of  the  modern  lan- 
guages ;  that  it  is  capable  of  giving  expression  to  all 
thoughts  and  all  forms  of  human  activity;  and, 
finally,  that  it  is  accomplishing  a  work  of  culture 
and  emancipation.  The  expansion  of  the  language 
of  the  prophets  taking  place  under  our  eyes  is  a 
fact  that  cannot  but  fascinate  every  mind  interested 
in  the  mysterious  evolution  of  the  destinies  of  man- 
kind in  the  direction  of  the  ideal. 

288 


INDEX 


Abarbanel,  biography  of,  in  Ha- 
Meassef,  33. 

"  Abiezer,"  autobiography  by 
Ginzburg,  118. 

Abramowitsch,  Solomon  Jacob, 
novel  by,  169,  170;  natural 
history  by,  169-70;  style  of, 
170;  alluded  to,  252;  story- 
writer,  280. 

Achan,  personage  in  Ahabat 
Ziyyon,  143. 

"  Adoni-bezek,"  fable  by  Gordon, 
203-4. 

^sop,   translated  by   Gordon.  -177. 

Agricultural  colonies,  and  Levin- 
sohn,  123. 

Agriculture,   urged   for  Jews,   207. 

Aguilar,  Grace,  Hebrew  transla- 
tion of  tale  by,  243. 

'Agunah,    forsaken    wife,    191. 

Ahabat  David  u-Michal.  See 
"  David  and  Michal." 

Ahabat  Ziyyon,  romance  by 
Mapu,  140;  success  of,  140; 
effect  of,  141;  contents  of, 
141-6;  characteristics  of,  146; 
lesson  of,  147-8;  impression 
made  by,  148-9;  effect  of,  on 
Hebrew,  149-50. 

Ahad  ha-'Am,  essayist,  influenced 
by  Krochmal,  68;  character- 
ized, 281. 

Ahaz,  King,  personage  in  Ahabat 
Ziyyon  14.2. 

Aher,   the   Jewish    Faust,   72. 

Ahiasaf ,    publishing   society,    278. 

Ahijah  ha-Shiloni,  work  by  Levin- 
sohn,  122. 

Ahoti  Ruhamah,  poem  by  Gordon, 
201. 

Albo,  studied  by  the  Lithuanian 
Jews,  99. 

Alexander  I,  of  Russia,  and  the 
Jews,  100,  101;  reforms  of, 
abortive,  125. 

Alexander  II,  of  Russia,  liberality 

of,    159;  reforms  of,    178. 
Alim    le-Terufah,    a    part    of    the 


Biur,   30    (n.). 


Alliance  Israelite  Universette,  the, 
employs  Smolenskin,  246. 

Almanzi,  Joseph,  poet,  82. 

Alsace,  refugees  from,  33;  Hebrew 
literature  in,  48. 

"Amal  and  Tirzah,"  drama  by 
Shalom  Hacohen,  40. 

America,  emigration  to,  272;  He- 
brew in,  277. 

'Am  ha-Ares,  scorn  for  the,  94. 

'Ammude  Bet-Yehudah,  by  Hur- 
witz,  98. 

Amnon,  personage  in  Ahabat 
Ziyyon,  144. 

'Am  'Olam,  by  Smolenskin,  230-4. 

Amon  Padgug,  manual  by  Mapu, 
152. 

Amsterdam,  M.  H.  Luzzatto  in, 
27;  Hebrew  literature  in,  76. 

Anti-Semitism,  predicted  by  Smo- 
lenskin, 265. 

Apikoros,  applied  to  Lilienblum, 
211. 

Arabic   prosody,   and  Hebrew,   20. 

Arba'  Kosot,  elegy  by  Pappen- 
heim,  39. 

Aristotle,  alluded  to,  89. 

Asaph,  Psalmist,  alluded  to,  43. 

Asenatli  Bat-Poti-pherah,  poem  by 
Gordon,  177. 

Ashakk<j  de-Rispak,  satire  by  Gor- 
don, 193-4. 

Ashmat  Shomeron,  novel  by  Ma- 
pu, 150-1;  technical  faults  of, 
151;  character  in,  166. 

"  Assembly  of  Israel,  The,"  an- 
nual, 276. 

"  Assembly  of  the  Dead,  The,"  by 
Lilienblum,  216. 

"  Athaliah's  Recompense,"  drama 
by  Mendes,  38. 

Auerbach,  Smolenskin  compared 
with,  252,  269. 

Austria,  modern  Hebrew  litera- 
ture in,  16;  Hebrew  journals 
in,  161. 

"  Auto-Emancipation,"  by  Pins- 
ker,  202,  274. 


289 


INDEX 


"  Avenging  Sword  of  the  Cove- 
nant, The,"  pamphlet  by 
Bresselau,  78. 

'Ayit  Zabua',  novel  by  Mapu,  152, 
165-9;  criticised  by  Lilien- 
blum,  238. 

Azariah  dei  Rossi,  Italian  Hebrew 
author,  19. 

Azrikam,  personage  in  Ahabat 
Ziyyon,  143. 

Baal-Shem,    character    in    a    novel 

by-  Smolenskin,   250. 
Bacher,    Simon,   poet,    79    (n.). 
Bacher,    Wilhelm,    alluded    to,    79 

(n.). 
Bar   Kokbah,    romance   on,   by    K. 

Schulman,  129. 

Basle,   in   a  poem  by  Wessely,   33- 
Bath-shua,     personage     in    one     of 

Gordon's  poems,   191. 
Batlan,  the,  in  'Ayit  Zabua*,   167. 
"  Beginning    and    the    End    of    a 

Quarrel,      The,"      novel      by 

Brandstatter,  239. 
Behalah:    the,    125;    the    Yeshibah 

during,      262;      described      by 

Smolenskin,  265-8. 
Ben-Avigdor,  Abraham  L.,  writer, 

278,  281. 
Bene   ha-Ne'urim,  by   Jeiteles,    78 

(n.). 
Ben-Jehudah,    Eliezer,   articles   by, 

246;     establishes     himself     in 

Palestine,    272;    share    of,    in 

the   rehabilitation    of  Hebrew, 

277;  editor  of  Ha-Zebi,  277. 
Ben      Shinne     Arayot,      historical 

poem  by  Gordon,    180-2. 
Ben   Sira,   Hebrew   version  of,  by 

Ben-Zeeb,  43. 
Ben-Zebi,      contributor      to      Ha- 

Shahar,   240,   241. 
Ben-Zeeb,       Judah,       grammarian, 

42-3;   ode  by,   49-50    (n.). 
Berditchevsky,  M.  J.,  story  writer, 

280,  282. 
Berlin,    associations    of    Maskilitn 

in,  29. 
"  Berliners,"  the,  a  literary  circle 

in  Wilna,   104. 
Bernfeld,    S.,   on    S.    D.    Luzzatto, 

86;  popular  writer,  282. 
Bernstein,    Jehiel,    contributor    to 

Ha-Shahar,  242. 
Berschadsky,  writer,  280. 
"  Beruriah,"  by   Mulder,   77. 
Bet  ha-Osar,  work  by  S.  D.  Luz- 
zatto, 91. 


"  Between  the  Teeth  of  the  Lions," 
historical  poem  by  Gordon, 
180-2. 

Bet-Yehudah,  work  by  Levinsohn, 
121. 

Bialik,  Hayyim  N.,  poet,  280. 

Bible,  the,  translated  into  Ger- 
man, 31. 

Bible  criticism  in  Hebrew,   208. 

Biblical  Concordance,  by  Mandel- 
kern,  239. 

Bick,  Jacob  Samuel,  a  Hasid,  81 
(n.). 

Bikkure  ha-'Ittim,  Hebrew  pe- 
riodical, 40,  56;  Rapoport  con- 
tributor to,  58,  59,  61. 

Bikkure  ha-Shanah,  Hebrew  pe- 
riodical, 56. 

Bikkure  To'elet,  Hebrew  periodi- 
cal, 42,  77. 

BILU,  a  group  of  Palestinian  im- 
migrants, 273. 

Bi-Mesulot  Yam,  historical  poem 
by  Gordon,  182-4. 

Biographies,  in  Ha-Meassef,  33, 
39- 

Biur,  the,  commentary  on  the 
Bible,  30  (and  n.),  31,  41. 

Biurists,  the,  a  school  of  Jewish 
"  intellectuals,"  30,  31,  42. 

Bloch,     Samson,     Galician    writer, 

Blumenfeld,  editor  of  Osar  Neh- 
mad,  56. 

Boccaccio,  alluded  to,   18. 

Bodek,  publisher,  76. 

"  Book  of  Essays,  A,"  by  Judah 
Hurwitz,  98. 

"Book  of  the  Covenant.  The," 
encyclopedia,  by  Elias  of 
Wilna,  99. 

Borne,  Erter  compared  with,  70-1. 

Bossuet,  alluded  to,  88. 

"  Bouquet  of  Flowers,  A,"  by 
Kowner,  209. 

Brainin,  Reuben,  references  to, 
150  (n.),  246  (n.),  writer, 
283. 

Brandstatter,  Mordecai  D.,  novel- 
ist, 238-9. 

Braudes,  Reuben  Asher,  a  Zionist, 
200,  273;  novels  by,  216-17 
(and  n.) ;  contributor  to  Ha- 
Shahar,  242. 

Bresjau,  associations  of  Maskilim 
in,  30. 

Bresselau,  Melr  Israel,  pamphlet 
by,  77-8. 


290 


INDEX 


Brest,  headquarters  of  "  The  Syn- 
od of  the  Four  Countries," 
93- 

Brody,  Erter  in,  70;  a  literary 
centre,  78  (n.);  Levinsohn  in, 
121 ;  the  seat  of  the  anti- 
religious  propaganda,  208. 

Buckle,  alluded  to,   61. 

Buda-Pesth,  Erter  in,  70. 

Burgher,  the,  in  'Ayit  Zabua',  168. 

"  Burial  of  the  Ass,  The,"  novel 
by  Smolenskin,  265-8. 

Cahen,  M.,  contributor  to  Ha- 
Shahar,  240-1. 

"  Cain,"   poem   by   Gottlober,    153. 

Castigliom,  Vittorio,  editor  of 
Rachel  Morpurgo's  poems,  83; 
disciple  of  S.  D.  Luzzatto,  91. 

Catherine  II,  of  Russia,  at 
Shklow,  100  (n.). 

Censorship  of  Hebrew  books,  and 
Levinsohn,  123. 

Cervantes,   alluded  to,   72,  249.-' 

"  Characterization  of  the  Rabbis," 
work  by  Mises,  75. 

Chateaubriand,  alluded  to,  86. 

Children,  levied  for  the  army  in 
Russia,  124. 

"  Children  of  My  Spirit,  The,"  by 
Pines,  220-1. 

Chwolson,  contributor  to  Ha- 
Shahar,  241. 

"  Clear  Morning,  The."  See  Ha- 
Boker  Or. 

"  Collected  Writings  of  Gordon," 
199. 

"  Collector,  The,"  annual,  276. 

"  Collector,  The."  See  Ha-Meas- 
sef.  _ 

Conscription,     military,     and     the 

Kahal,   125. 
See   also    Military   service. 

Conservatism,   defended,   219-23. 
See    also    Rabbinism;    Orthodox, 
the. 

Cossack  invasion  of  Lithuania,  94. 

Cossacks,  the,  insurrection  of,   53. 

Cremieux,  Adolphe,  and  Smolen- 
skin, 246. 

Crimean  War,  the,  the  Jews  in- 
terested in,  1 60. 

Culture,  Society  for  the  Promo- 
tion of,  Gordon  secretary  of, 
174;  purpose  of,  207. 

"  Curtains  of  Solomon,  The," 
work  by  Pappenheim,  40. 

Daily  Hebrew  press,  276-7. 


Damascus,     Ginzburg     on     ritual 

murder  accusation  at,   118. 
Dante,  alluded  to,   18. 
"  Dark    Valley,    The,"     poem    by 

Rachel   Morpurgo,   84. 
"  David    and    Barzillai,"    poem    by 

Gordon,   176-7. 
"  David  and  Bath-sheba,"  poem  by 

Lebensohn,   107. 
"  David    and    Michal,"    poem    by 

Gordon,  156,  175-6. 
Davidson,  Dr.  Israel,  on  parodies, 

56  (n.). 

"  Day,  The."    See  Ha-Yom. 
"  Day  of  Atonement,  The,"  chap- 
ter in  a  novel  by  Smolenskin, 

264. 

:'  Daybreak."    See  Ha-Shahar. 
"  Death    Agony,    The,"    poem    by 

Lebensohn,   112. 
Debir,  by  Ginzburg,    118. 
"  Deer,  The."     See  Ha-Zebi. 
"  Delicious   Vineyard,   The."     See 

Keretn   Hemed. 
"  Delightful  Treasure,  The."     See 

Osar  Nehmad. 
Delmedigo.        See      Joseph      Del- 

medigo. 
Derenburg,    Hartwig,    author,    40 

(n.). 
"  Destruction    of    Troy,    The,"    by 

Schiller,   in   Hebrew,    131. 
Dibre    Shalom    via-Emet,    work   by 

Wessely,   37. 
Dibre    Yeme    Russia,    by    Mandel- 

kern,  240} 
Dickens,       Smolenskin      compared 

with,  252. 
Dictionary,      Hebrew-German,     by 

Ben-Zeeb,  43. 
Dimyon,    personage    in    Luzzatto's 

drama,  24. 
"  Doctor  Alfasi,"  novel  by  Brand- 

statter,  239. 

Dolitzki,    Menahem    M.,    contribu- 
tor to  Ha-Shahar,  242;  elegiac 

poet,   279. 
Dor  Dor  we-Doreshaw,  by  Weiss, 

242. 
"  Dot    on    the    I,    The,"   poem  by 

Gordon.   189-93. 
"  Drops     ot     Poetry,"     work     by 

Samoscz,  55. 
Dubno,    Solomon,    Biurist,    works 

by,  42. 

"  Eagle,  The."     See  Ha-Nesher. 
Education,   Jewish,    reforms   urged 
in,  207. 


291 


INDEX 


Efes-Dammim,  work  by  Levinsohn, 

122. 

Efrati,  Joseph,   dramatist,   75. 
Eichenbaum,  Isaac,  poet,   119,   120. 
Eismann,  Moses,  274. 
Elementary    schools,    Jewish,    and 

Levinsohn,   123. 
"  Elements  of  the  Sciences,  The," 

treatise  by  Baruch  Lindau,  41. 
Elias,   of   Wilna,   encyclopedia  by, 

99- 

Elijah  Levita,  Italian  Hebrew  au- 
thor,  19. 
Elijah  of  Wilna,  greatness  of,  97, 

102;    opposes    Hasidism,    97-8; 

attitude  of,  98;  works  by,  98; 

and  the  Haskalah,   103. 
Elisha    ben    Abuyah,    the    Jewish 

Faust,  72. 
El  Ro'e  Yisrael,  pamphlet  by  Herz 

Homberg,  41. 
Emancipation,    the,    of    the    Jews, 

served   by   Hebrew,    16-17;    in 

Germany,    29-31;    intellectual, 

in  Russia,  163. 
'Entek     'Akor,     poem     by     Rachel 

Morpurgo,  84. 
Emet,    personage    in    Lebensohn's 

drama,   114,   116. 
Emet    we-Emunah,    drama   by   Le- 

bensohn,  1 14. 
Emunah,  personage  in  Lebensohn's 

drama,  114,  116. 
Ensheim,   Hebrew  poet,   48. 
Epigrams,  78. 

'Erek    Millin,     Talmudic    encyclo- 
pedia by   Rapoport,   62. 
Erter,    Isaac,   editor   of  He-Halus, 

56,   208;   youth  and  education 

of,     69;     friends     of,     69-70; 

works   of,    70;    style    of,    70-1; 

as    satirist,    71-2;    alluded    to, 

80. 
"  Esther,"    by    Racine,    translated 

by  Rapoport,  58,  60. 
Esther,    character    in    a    novel    by 

Smolenskin,   267. 
"  Eternal        People,       The,"       by 

Smolenskin,    230-4. 
"  Eternity   of   Israel,    The,"   poem 

by  Gottlober,   153. 
Euchel,  Isaac,  chief  editor  of  Ha- 

Meassef,  41. 
Exodus,  the,  poem  by  Wessely,  35. 

Fabi,  personage  in  a  poem  by  Gor- 
don,  192. 
Fables,  by  Gordon,  177-8. 


"  Face    of    the    World,    The,"    by 

Moses  Mendelsohn,   78. 
"  Fathers    and     Sons,"    novel    by 

S.  J.  Abramowitsch,   169,   170. 
Faust,   translated   by  Letteris,   72; 

Letteris's  Hebrew  version  of, 

criticised,  210,  226. 
Feder,  Tobias,  Galician  writer,  55. 
Feierberg,  writer,  280. 
Fiction    in    Hebrew,    translations, 

134- 
Finn,    Samuel    Joseph,    editor    of 

Hq-Karmel,  162. 

Firkovich,  Abraham,  writer,    119. 
"  First  Fruits  of  the  Times,  The." 

See  Bikkure  ha-'Ittim. 
"  First  Fruits  of  the  Year,  The." 

See   Bikkure    ha-Shanah. 
Fischmann,    publisher,    76. 
"  Flock  of  the   Lord,  The,"  poem 

by  Gordon,   202. 
Folklore,   in   Hebrew,   127. 
"  For  a  Trifle,"  satire  by  Gordon, 

193-4- 
"  Four     Cups,     The,"       elegy     by 

Pappenheim,  39. 
"  Four    Seasons,    The,"    poem    by 

Eichenbaum,  120. 
France,   Hebrew  literature  in,   48. 
Frances  brothers,  the,  Italian  He- 
brew authors,  19. 
Frankel,  works  of,  translated  into 

Hebrew,   76;   on  the  necessity 

of  Hebrew,   77. 
Franzos,    Karl    Emil,    Brandstatter 

compared  with,  239. 
French    Revolution,    the,     alluded 

to,    10;    and   Ha-Meassef,    34; 

and  the  Jews,  48-50. 
Friedberg,    A.,    a    devotee    of    the 

Melizah,   243. 
Friedlander,     David,     follower     of 

Mendelssohn,  41. 
Frischmann,  David,  critic,  281. 

Gaal,  personage  in  'Ayit  Zabua", 
167. 

Gadiel,  personage  in  'Ayit  Zabua', 
1 66. 

Galicia,  the  Haskalah  in,  55;  the 
work  of  the  Maskilim  in, 
80- 1 ;  litterateurs  from,  in 
Russia,  119;  Hebrew  journals 
in,  161;  Hebrew  in,  285. 

Galician  writers  influence  Levin- 
sohn, 121. 

Can  Na'ul.  work  by  Wessely,  36. 

"  Gaon,  The."  See  Elijah  of 
Wilna. 


292 


INDEX 


Goon  we-Sheber,  by  Sraolenskin, 
268. 

"  Gates  of  Zion,  The."  See 
Sha'are  Ziyyon. 

Geiger,  Abraham,  works  of,  trans- 
lated into  Hebrew,  76;  on  the 
necessity  for  Hebrew,  77; 
Bible  critic,  209;  assailed  by 
Fabius  Mises,  220. 

Gemul  Athaliah,  drama  by  Men- 
des,  38. 

Gemul  Yesharim,  novel  by  Smolen- 
skin,  268. 

German,  Jewish  translation  of  the 
Bible  into,  31. 

Germany,  modern  Hebrew  litera- 
ture in,  1 6,  76,  77;  M.  H. 
Luzzatto  in,  27;  Jewish  eman- 
cipation in,  29-31;  Jews  from, 
emigrate  to  Poland,  52. 

Geschichte  der  jiidisclien  Literatur, 
by  Karpeles,  referred  to,  19 
(n.).  „ 

Gideon,  character  in  a  noveV  by 
Smolenskin,  264. 

Ginzburg,  Mordecai  Aaron,  writer, 
style  of,  117,  130;  place  of, 
in  Hebrew  literature,  118; 
works  by,  118;  creates  a  He- 
brew-reading public,  118;  and 
Mandejstamm,  156. 

"  Gleams  in  the  Darkness,"  by 
Gottlober,  154. 

"  Glory  to  the   Righteous,"  drama, 
by    Moses    Hayyim    Luzzatto, 
16   (n.),  23-6. 
See   also    La-Yesharim    Tehillah. 

Goethe,    Faust    by,    translated    by 

Letteris,   72. 
See  also  Faust. 

Goldenberg,  editor  of  Kerem 
Honed,  56. 

Goldin,   writer,   280. 

Gordon,  David,  editor  of  Ha-Mag- 
gid,  161;  Zionist,  220. 

Gordon,  Judah  Leon,  on  S.  D. 
Luzzatto,  92 ;  as  a  romantic 
poet,  156;  contributor  to  Ha- 
Maggid.  161;  a  realist  poet, 
171;  education  of,  172-3;  lin- 
guistic attainments  of,  173; 
and  the  two  Lebensohns,  173; 
as  teacher,  174;  as  communal 
secretary,  174;  as  editor,  174; 
poems  by,  175-?;  fables  by, 
177-8,  198,  203-4;  as  reformer, 
178-80;  historical  poems  by, 
1 80-6;  attacks  Rabbinism,  181, 
206,  207;  on  the  trials  of  the 


Jews,  182-4;  on  the  ruin  of 
the  Jewish  State,  184-6;  poem 
by,  to  Smolenskin,  186-8;  as 
a  moralist,  188;  realistic  style 
of,  188-9;  satires  by,  189-98; 
on  the  Jewish  woman,  189-91; 
on  the  Kahal,  195-7;  on  the 
Jewish  student,  197-8;  tales 
by,  198-9;  effect  of  the  re- 
action on,  199-204;  poem  by, 
to  Pinsker,  202;  articles  by, 
203;  twenty-fifth  anniversary 
of,  204-5;  on  the  death  of 
Smolenskin,  205;  contributor 
to  Ha-Shahar,  238;  alluded  to, 
212,  252;  bias  of,  218;  a  Zion- 
istic  poem  by,  272. 

Gordon,  S.  L.,  writer,  280. 

Gottlober,  Abraham  Bar,  poet, 
119,  152-4;  influences  acting 
on,  153;  poems  by,  153-4; 
periodical  by,  154;  a  Mehab- 
ber,  154;  editor  of  Ha-Boker 
Or,  242. 

Graber,  editor  of  S.  D.  Luzzatto's 
Letters,  91. 

"  Greatness  and  Ruin,"  by  Smolen- 
skin, 268. 

"  Guide  of  the  Perplexed  of  Mod- 
ern Times,  The,"  by  Kroch- 
mal,  63-8. 

Gurland,  contributor  to  Ha-Shahar, 
241. 

Ha-Abot  weka-Banim,  novel  by 
S.  J.  Abramowitsch,  169,  170. 

Ha-Arez,  by  Jawitz,  282  (n.)- 

Ha-Boker  Or,  monthly  review, 
154;  Braudes  contributor  to, 
217;  rival  to  Ha-Shahar,  234; 
stronghold  of  humanism,  24.2. 

Hacohen,  Shalom,  editor  of  Ha- 
Meassef,  34  (n.),  40;  works 
by,  40;  editor  of  Bikkure  ha- 
'Ittim,  56. 

Ha-Dat  weha-Hayyim,  novel  by 
Braudes,  217  (n.). 

Ha-Emet,   Hebrew  periodical,   244. 

Ha-Gemul,  first  novel  by  Smolen- 
skin, 248. 

Haggith,  personage  in  Ahabat 
Ziyyon,  142. 

Ha-Habaszelet,  Hebrew  periodical, 
defender  of  conservatism,  219, 
244. 

Ha-Higgayon,  work  by  M.  H. 
Luzzatto,  26. 

Ha-'Ibri,    Hebrew    periodical,    162. 


293 


INDEX 


Ha-Karmel,  Hebrew  periodical, 
162. 

Ha-Ketab  weha-Miktab,  work  by 
Abraham  Krochmal,  208  (n.). 

Hakizah  'Ammi,  poem  by  Gordon, 
179. 

Ha-Kol,  Hebrew  periodical,  208; 
defender  of  reform,  219,  244. 

Hakundus,  parody,  57   (n.).. 

Ha-Lebanon,  Hebrew  periodical, 
defender  of  conservatism, 
219;  Pines  contributor  to, 
220. 

Halevy,  Elie  Halfan,  poet,  48-9. 

Halevy,  Joseph,  contributor  to  Ha- 
Maggid,  tot. 

Halevy,  Ludovic,  grandfather  of, 
48. 

Ha-Mabbit,  weekly  edited  by 
Smolenskin,  244. 

Ha-Maggid,  Hebrew  political  jour- 
nal, 160-1;  contributors  to, 
161;  defender  of  conservatism, 
219,  220. 

Hamat  Damesek,  by  Ginzburg, 
118. 

Hamburg,  associations  of  Maski- 
lim  in,  29-30. 

Ha-Meassef,  Hebrew  periodical, 
30;  aims  of,  31-2;  literary 
value  of,  32-4;  fortunes  of, 
34  (and  n.) ;  contributors  to, 
38,  39,  40-1,  42;  chief  editor 
of,  41;  compared  with  other 
Hebrew  periodicals,  57. 
See  also  Meassefim,  the. 

Ha-Mebasser,  Hebrew  periodical, 
162. 

Ha-Melis,  Hebrew  periodical,  162; 
J.  L.  Gordon  editor  of,  174; 
articles  by  Gordon  in,  203; 
Lilienblum  contributor  to, 
aip;  defender  of  reform,  219; 
Mises  contributor  to,  220; 
rejects  a  novel  of  Smolen- 
skin, 248;  changed  into  a 
daily,  276;  Rabinovich  editor 
of,  283. 

Hamon,  personage  in  Lebensohn's 
drama,  114. 

Hamon,  personage  in  Luzzatto's 
drama,  24. 

Hananel,  Rabbenu,  biography  of, 
by  Rapoport,  61. 

Hananel,  personage  in  Ahabat 
Ziyyon,  143. 

Ha-Nesher,  Hebrew  periodical, 
162. 


"  Hanger  of  the  Yod,  The,"  poem 
by  Gordon,  189-93. 

Ha-Pardes,   281. 

Harizi,  alluded  to,  78. 

Harkavy,  contributor  to  Ha-Sha- 
har,  241. 

Ha-Roeh  u-Mebakker,  critical 
work,  75-6. 

"  Harp  of  Rachel,  The,"  poems 
by  Rachel  Morpurgo,  83. 

"  Harp  of  the  Daughter  of  Zion, 
The,"  poems  by  M.  J.  Leben- 
sohn,  133. 

Ha-Shahar,  Hebrew  periodical, 
1 86;  published  by  Smolen- 
skin, 228;  spokesman  of  the 
Maskilim,  229;  publishes 
Smolenskin's  great  novel, 
230;  rival  to,  234;  combats 
obscurantism,  237-8;  contribu- 
tors to,  238-42,  246;  influence 
of,  242,  247;  centre  of  a  syn- 
thetic movement,  245;  Smo- 
lenskin's novels  published  in, 
249,  268;  end  of,  275. 

Ha-Shiloah,  Hebrew   review,   281. 

Hasidim,  the,  characterized,  54 
(and  n.);  causes  for  the 
rapid  increase  of,  54;  strength 
of,  80;  pamphlet  against,  by 
Rapoport,  59,  69;  reminis- 
cences of,  by  Gottlober,  154; 
persecute  Lilienblum,  211; 
depicted  by  Brandstatter,  239; 
influenced  by  the  daily  He- 
brew press,  277;  and  Zionism, 
286-7. 
See  also  Hasidism. 

Hasidism,  pamphlet  against,  by 
Tobias  Feder,  55;  parody  on, 
56  (n.);  satire  against,  by 
Erter,  70,  71;  progress  of,  76; 
opposed  by  Jeiteles,  78;  Elijah 
of  Wilna  opposes,  97-8;  op- 
posed by  Judah  Hurwitz,  9_8; 
Mapu  saved  from,  136;  his- 
tory of,  by  Gottlober,  154; 
depicted  by  S.  J.  Abramo- 
witsch,  170;  Kahana  on,  241. 
See'  also  Hasidim,  the. 

Haskalah,  defined,  32  (n.) ;  and 
the  evolution  of  Judaism,  46; 
in  Poland,  55;  Rapoport  pro- 
moter of,  60;  Erter  devotee 
of,  69;  in  Lithuania,  103, 
140,  164;  absence  of,  a  degra- 
dation, 113;  earlier  and  later 
character  of,  165;  and  Gor- 


294 


INDEX 


don,     179;     opposed    by    the 
orthodox,  180. 

See   also    Humanism;    Maskilim, 
the. 

Ha-To'eh  be-Darke  ha-Hayyim, 
novel  by  Smolenskin,  begun, 
226,  248;  published  in  Ha- 
Shahar,  230,  249:  introduction 
to,  on  translations,  243;  ana- 
lyzed, 249-64;  faults  of,  25:; 
style  of,  252;  addition  to, 
264-5. 

Hattot  Ne'urim,  autobiography  of 
Lilienblum,  211-16;  extracts 
from,  211-12,  215-16,  217-18. 

Ha-Yweah,  Hebrew  periodical, 
244. 

Ha-Yerushah,  novel  by  Smolen- 
skin, 268-9. 

Ha-Yom,  daily  Hebrew  paper,  276. 

Hayyim  Jacob,  personage  in  a 
novel  by  Smolenskin,  265. 

Ha-Zebi,  Hebrew  periodical,  2^7. 

Ha-Zefirah,  Hebrew  periodical, 
56. 

Ha-Zefirah,  Hebrew  periodical, 
162;  edited  by  Sokolow,  276, 
282;  changed  into  a  daily, 
276. 

Ha-Zofeh  be-Eres  Nod,  Hebrew 
periodical,  244. 

Ha-Zofeh  le-Bet  Yisrael,  essays  by 
Erter,  70. 

Hazon  la-Mo'ed,  book  of  travels 
by  Mandelstamm,  155. 

He-Asif,  annual,  276. 

Hebrah   Kadisha,   266. 

Hebrew,  considered  a  dead  lan- 
guage, 9-10;  character  of 
modern  literature  in,  10,  n- 
12;  instrument  of  propaganda, 
ii ;  national  return  to,  12,  16; 
extolled  by  Mendes,  38;  in- 
fluence of  the  Meassefim  on, 
47;  spread  of,  in  Slavic  coun- 
tries, 5 1 ;  used  for  pleas  for 
the  abolition  of  Hebrew,  77; 
Lebensohn  on,  106-7;  addi- 
tions to,  117-18;  public  for, 
created  by  Ginzburg,  119; 
cultivated  by  the  Lithuanian 
Jews,  126-7;  cause  of,  ad- 
vanced by  Kalman  Schulman, 
129,  130;  advanced  by  Aha- 
bat  Ziyyon,  149-50;  modern- 
ization of,  according  to  Ha- 
levy,  161;  modernized  by 
S.  J.  Abraraowitsch,  170; 


used  for  Bible  criticism,  208; 
rehabilitated  as  the  vernacular 
of  Palestine,  277-8;  new  for- 
mations in,  278;  vitality  of, 
284-5. 

"  Hebrew,  The."     See  Ha-'Ibri. 

Hebrew-German  dictionary,  by 
Ben-Zeeb,  42. 

Hebrew  literature,  modern,  char- 
acter of,  10,  11-12,  275-6; 
illustrative  of  a  social  psy- 
chology, 13-14;  pessimism  and 
optimism  of,  13;  defective  in 
form,  14;  monographs  on,  15 
(n.);  stages  of,  16;  place  of 
M.  H.  Luzzatto  in,  28;  orderly 
development  of,  157;  stimulat- 
ed, 274;  rank  of,  in  Russia, 
283;  opposes  Rabbinism,  285- 
6;  Zionism  predominant  in, 
286:  task  and  possibilities  of, 
287-8. 

Hebrew  periodicals,  161-3;  in- 
fluence of,  163;  promote  re- 
forms, 208;  characterized  by 
Lilienblum,  216. 

Hedarim,   the,   neglected,    163. 

Heder,  the,  described  by  Smolen- 
skin, 253-5. 

Hegel,  influences  Krochmal,  64, 
65,  66,  67. 

He-Halus,  Hebrew  periodical,  56, 
6p;  organ  of  the  anti-Rab- 
binic propaganda,  208.  219; 
the  school  of,  opposed  by 
Fabius  Mises,  220. 

Heine,  Erter  compared  with,  70-1; 
alluded  to,  88,  120;  analyzed 
by  Lazarus  Schulman,  241. 

Heker  Dabar,   by   Kowner,   209. 

Heller,  contributor  to  Ha-Shaliar, 
238. 

"  Herald,   The."     See  Ha-Maggid. 

Hereb  Nokemet  Nekam  Berit, 
pamphlet  by  Bresselau,  77-8. 

Hess,  alluded  to,  232. 

Hezekiah,  King,  personage  in 
Ahabat  Ziyyon,  145. 

Higgayon  be-Kinnor,  poems  by 
Almanzi,  82. 

Hillel,  personage  in  a  poem  by 
Gordon,  192. 

History,  Jewish,  a  philosophy  of, 
by  Krochmal,  65-8. 

"  History  of  the  Jews,"  by  Jawitz, 
282  (n.). 

Hokmah,  personage  in  Leben- 
sohn's  drama,  116. 

Holland,  Hebrew  literature  in,  76. 


295 


INDEX 


Holy  Land,  the,  the  Jews  love  for, 

explained  by   Rapoport,  61-2. 
See  also  Palestine. 

"  Holy  Vengeance,"  last  novel  by 
Smolenskin,  269. 

Homberg,  Herz,  follower  of  Men- 
delssohn, 41. 

"  Hope  of  Israel,  The,"  chapter 
in  a  work  by  Smolenskin, 
231-2. 

"  House  of  Judah,  The,"  work  by 
Levinsohn,  121. 

"  Huldah  and  Bor,"  poem  by 
Werbel,  155. 

Humanism,  a  harmonization,  219; 
inefficacious,  222-3;  defended 
in  Ha-Boker  Or,  242;  char- 
acterized, 275,  284-5;  and 
Rabbinism,  286. 

See  also   Haskalah,   the;   Maski- 
lim:     the;     Meassefim,    the. 

Humanist  centres  in  Lithuania, 
140. 

Humanists,     literary,     among     the 
Jews,  1 1 ;  the,  stirred  by  Alex- 
ander II's  concessions,   159-60. 
See   also  Haskalah,  the;   Maski- 
lim,   the;    Meassefim,   the. 

Hungary,  Hebrew  literature  in, 
78-9. 

Hurwitz,  Judah,  works  by,  98-9. 

"  Hymn  to  Hypocrisy,"  satire  by 
Dubno,  42. 

"  Hymn  to  Peace,"  by  Elie  Hal  fan 
Haleyy,  48-9. 

"  Hypocrite,  The."  See  'Ayit 
Zabua'. 

'Illui,    applied    to    Mapu,    136;    to 

J.  L.  Gordon,  172. 
Imber,  Naphtali  Herz,  poet,  279. 
"  In  the  Depths  of  the  Sea,"  his- 
torical      poem       by       Gordon, 

182-4. 
"  Inhabitants  of  the  World,  The," 

drama  by  Derenburg,  40  (n.). 
"  Inheritance,      The,"      novel      by 

Smolenskin,    268-9. 
"  Intellectuals,"    the.      See   Maski- 

lim,  the. 
"  Interpreter,      The."       See     Ha- 

Meliz. 
"  Investigations     of     the     Land," 

geography  by  Levinsohn,  79. 
Isaiah,  as  drawn  by  Mapu,  147-8. 
Ish-Naomi,  pseudonym.  See 

Wechsler. 
Italy,    modern    Hebrew    literature 

in,  1 6,  19-20,  47-8,  76,  82. 


'lyyun  Tefillah,  work  by  Abraham 
Krochmal,  208  (n.). 

Jacob  Meir,  poet,  49   (n.). 

"  Jael    and    Sisera,"   poem    by    M. 

J.  Lebensohn,  132. 
Jawitz,   Wolf,  writer,  281-2. 
Jedidiah,   character   in  a  novel  by 

Smolenskin,  263. 
Jedidiah,      personage     in     Ahabat 

Ziyyon,   142. 
Jehudah    Halevi,    alluded    to,    63; 

S.      D.      Luzzatto     editor     of 

poems    of,    85-6;    S.    D.    Luz- 
zatto     compared      with,      90; 

elegy  on,  by  M.  J.  Lebensohn, 

133- 

Jeiteles,  Judah,  epigrammatist,  78. 
Jellinek,  works  of,  translated  into 

Hebrew,    76. 
Terahmeel,      personage     in      'Ayit 

Zabua',  167. 
Jerusalem,   Hebrew  in  the  schools 

of,  277. 
"  Jerusalem,"    Hebrew    periodical, 

56. 

"  Jerusalem,"    work    by    Mendels- 
sohn, 41. 
Jewish-German,  the,  objected  to  by 

Mendelssohn,      31;      used     by 

S.    J.    Abramowitsch,    170;    a 

rival  of  Hebrew,  284. 
Jokai,    Smolenskin   compared   with, 

269. 

Joram,    personage   in   Ahabat   Ziy- 
yon,   142. 
Joseph,    personage    in   a   novel    by 

Smolenskin,  249. 
Joseph   II,   emperor,  edict  by,   37; 

the     reforms     of,     deprecated, 

54- 
Joseph  ben  Simon,  personage  in  a 

poem  by  Gordon,  196. 
Joseph  Delmedigo,  Italian  Hebrew 

author,    19;    biography   of,    in 

Ha-Meassef,    33. 
Jost,   stimulated   by   Rapoport,   59; 

criticised,     76,    89;    reference 

to,  87   (n.). 
"  Journey      through       Lithuania," 

work  by   Slouschz,    93    (n.). 
"  Journey    to    Arabia,"    by    Roma- 

nelli,  48. 

"  Journey  to  Palestine,"  281. 
"Joy     of    the     Hypocrite,     The," 

novel  by  Smolenskin,  248,  261. 
Judaism,    prophetical,    attacked    by 

Gordon,      185;     analyzed     by 

Smolenskin,  233. 


296 


INDEX 


Judeo-Roman  wars,  the,  poem  on, 

by  Gordon,   180. 
"  Judith,"  drama   by  Mendes,  39. 

Kabbalah,  the,  studied  by  M.  H. 
Luzzatto,  21,  26;  studied  by 
Lebensohn,  104;  studied  by 
Mapu,  136;  history  of,  by 
Gottlober,  154. 

Kahal,  the,  in  Poland,  52;  in  Lith- 
uania, 94;  and  military  con- 
scription, 125;  suppressed, 
159;  Gordon  on,  195-7;  de- 
scribed by  Smolenskin,  265-8. 

Kahana,  A.,  writer,  283. 

Kahana,  David,  contributor  to  Ha- 
Shahar,  241. 

Kahn,  J.,  writer,  280. 

Kahn,  Zadoc,  alluded  to,  49  (n,). 

Kalisher,  Hirsch,  contributor  to 
Ha-Macgid,  161. 

Kant,  alluded  to,  42. 

Kantor,  Jehudah  Lob,  contributor 
to  Ha-Shahar,  242;  editor  of  a 
daily  Hebrew  paper,  276. 

Karpeles,  Gustav,  referred  to,  19 
(n.). 

Katzenelenson,  J.  L.,  writer,  282-3. 

Keburat  Hamor,  novel  by  Smolen- 
skin, 265-8. 

Kehal  Refaim,  by  Lilienblum,  216. 

Keneset  Yisrael,  reference  to,  155 
(n.) ;  annual,  276. 

Kerem  Hemed,  Hebrew  periodical, 
56;  Rapoport  contributor  to, 
59- 

Kinat  ha-Emet,  work  by  Judah 
Mises,  75. 

"  King  _  Zedekiah  in  Prison,"  his- 
torical poem  by  Gordon,  184-6. 

Kinnor  Bat-Ziyyon,  poems  by  M. 
J.  Lebensohn,  133. 

Kinnor  Na'im,  poems  by  S.  D. 
Luzzatto,  86  (n.);  Zionistic, 
91. 

Kishron  ha-Ma'aseh^  poem  by  Je- 
hudah Lob  Levin,  240. 

Klopstock,   influences  Wessely,   35. 

"  Knowledge  and  Death,"  poem  by 
Lebensohn,  112. 

Kohen-Zedek,  Joseph,  editor  of 
Ha-Mebasser,  162. 

Kokebe  Yiskak,  a  periodical,  56. 

Kol  Kitbe  Yehudah,  by  Gordon, 
199. 

Kol  Shaw'at  Bat-Yehudah,  pam- 
phlet by  Nevakhovich,  101. 

Kol  Shire  Mahalalel,  poems  by 
Gottlober,  153. 


Kol  'Ugab,  Hebrew  anthology,  82 
(n.). 

Kol  Zimrah,  poems  by  Eichen- 
baum,  120. 

Kowner,  Abraham,  controversial- 
ist, 209. 

Kowno,   Mapu  teacher  at,   140. 

Kozo  shel  Yod,  satire  by  Gordon, 
189-93. 

Kremenetz,  birthplace  of  Levin- 
sohn,  121,  123. 

Krochmal,  Abraham,  contributor 
to  He-Halus,  208;  Bible 
critic,  208-9. 

Krochmal,  Nahman,  promoter  of 
the  idea  of  the  mission  of  the 
Jewish  people,  57,  63;  in- 
fluences Rapoport,  58;  chief 
work  of,  63-8;  life  of,  63-4; 
reason  in  the  system  of,  64-5; 
on  the  Jewish  people,  65-7; 
influences  writers,  68-9;  en- 
courages Erter,  69;  alluded  to, 
80;  compared  with  S.  D.  Luz- 
zatto, 88. 

Kryloff,  translated  by  Gordon,  177. 

La  Fontaine,  translated  by  Gor- 
don, 177. 

"  Language  of  Learners,  The," 
work  by  M.  H.  Luzzatto,  21. 

Latin,  studied  by  Mapu,   137-8. 

Law,  the,  study  of,  in  Poland, 
52-3;  study  of,  in  Lithuania, 
94,  96,  97;  causes  ruin  of  the 
nation,  186;  fundamental  idea 
of,  211. 

"  Law  and  Philosophy,  The,"  work 
by  Reggio,  82. 

La-Yesharim    Tehillah,    drama    by 
M.    H.    Luzzatto,    23-6;    imita- 
tions of,  33  (n.). 
See   also    "  Glory   to   the    Right- 
eous." 

Lebanon,  by  Wessely,  36. 

Lebensohn,  Abraham  Bar,  poet, 
education  of,  104;  early  poetry 
of,  characterized,  104-5;  I'16 
and  opinions  of,  105-6;  loves 
the  Hebrew  language,  106-7; 
influenced  by  German  authors, 
107;  poems  by,  analyzed,  107- 
13;  collected  poems  by,  113; 
on  the  degradation  of  the 
Jews,  113-14;  drama  by,  114- 
17,  169;  Pessimism  of,  126; 
popularity  of,  128;  son  of, 
130;  and  Gordon,  173. 


297 


INDEX 


Lebensohn,  Micah  Joseph,  poet,  his 
father  on  the  death  of,  112; 
character  and  education  of, 
130-1 ;  qualities  of,  as  a  writer, 
131;  works  by,  131-4;  death  of, 
134;  Hebrew  version  of  Ovid 
by,  155;  and  Gordon,  173,  176. 

Lemberg,  birthplace  of  Rapoport, 
58. 

Leon.     See  Messer  Leon. 

Leon  of  Modena,  Italian  Hebrew 
author,  19. 

Lerner,  scientific  writer,  243,  281. 

Les  Mysteres  de  Paris,  by  Sue,  in 
Hebrew,  128,  140. 

Leshon  Lintmudim,  work  by  M.  H. 
Luzzatto,  21. 

Letteris,  Meir  Halevi,  editor  of 
Migdal  'Os,  22  (n.);  editor  of 
Erter's  work,  70;  lyric  poet, 
72;  Hebrew  version  of  Faust 
oy>  72"3i  prose  of,  73;  poetic 
style  of,  73-5;  alluded  to,  80; 
criticised  by  Smolenskin,  209- 
10,  226. 

"  Letters  from  MohSlew,"  by  M. 
Cahen,  240-1. 

"  Letters  from  Palestine,"  by  Ben- 
Zebi,  241. 

Levin,  Jehudah  Lob,  poet,  con- 
tributor to  Ha-Shahar,  240. 

Levinski,   A.   L.,  writer,  281. 

Levinsohn,  Isaac  Bar,  writer  and 
emancipator,  121-3;  works  by, 
121-2;  as  a  litterateur,  122;  as 
a  humanist,  123;  disciple  of, 
.153- 

Levinsohn,  Solomon,  poet,  79,  154. 

Levisohn,  Mordecai  Gumpel,  one 
of  the  Meassefim,  41-2. 

Levita.     See  Elijah   Levita. 

Lewinsohn,  Joshua,  contributor  to 
Ha-Shahar,  242. 

"  Life  of  Smolenskin,"  by  Brainin, 
referred  to,  246  (n.). 

Lilienblura,  Moses  Lob,  contribu- 
tor to  Ha-Maggidl  161;  a  Zion- 
ist, 200,  273;  typical  Lithuan- 
ian scholar,  210;  first  work  by, 
210-11;  autobiography  of,  211- 
16;  influenced  by  Mapu,  213; 
pamphlet  by,  216;  depicted  in 
a  novel  by  Braudes,  216-17; 
a  type,  217;  bias  of,  218;  and 
Pines,  220-1;  contributor  to 
Ha-Shahar,  238;  alluded  to, 
240. 

"  Lily,  The."     See  Ha-Habasselet. 


Lindau,  Baruch,  one  of  the 
^  Meassefim,  41. 

"  Lips  of  Song,  The,"  poems  by 
Jehudah  Lob  Levin,  240. 

Lithuania,  modern  Hebrew  litera- 
ture in,  16;  in  "The  Synod  of 
the  Four  Countries,"  52 ;  effect 
of  political  reaction  in,  124; 
humanist  centres  in,  140; 
small  towns  of,  opposed  to  re- 
forms, 164;  the  reform  move- 
ment in,  209-10;  typical 
scholar  of,  210;  Hebrew  in, 
285. 

Lithuania,  the  Jews  of,  Talmudists, 
93;  organization  of,  93-4;  pov- 
erty of,  95;  occupations  and 
life  of,  96,  99;  and  the  Na- 
poleonic wars,  102;  and  the 
Haskalah,  103;  rigorous  meas- 
ures against,  124-5;  effect  of 
reaction  on,  125-6. 

"  Little  Fables  for  Big  Children," 
by  Gordon,  198. 

Little  Poland,  in  "  The  Synod  of 
the  Four  Countries,"  52. 

Little  Russia,  in  "  The  Synod  of 
the  Four  Countries,"  52. 

"  Locked  Garden,  The,"  work  by 
Wessely,  36. 

Lolli,  Eude,  disciple  of  S.  D.  Luz- 
zatto, 91. 

London,  Smolenskin  in,  227. 

Loubochitzky,  writer,  280. 

"  Loud  Voice  of  the  Daughter  of 
Judah,  The,"  pamphlet  by 
Nevakhovich,  101. 

"  Love  of  Zion,  The."  See  Ahabat 
Ziyyon. 

Lowe,  editor  of  Ha-Meassef,  34 
(n.). 

Luther,  alluded  to,  234. 

Luxuries,  effect  of,  113. 

Luzzatto,  Ephraim,  poet^  47-8. 

Luzzatto,  Moses  Hayyim,  poet, 
Italian  humanist,  16  (n.) ; 
family  of,  20;  education  of, 
20-1 ;  works  of,  2i-6;  end 
of,  27;  place  of,  in  Hebrew 
literature,  28;  the  Meassefim 
disciples  of,  33,  35,  38;  in- 
fluence of,  on  Lebensohn,  115; 
as  a  Hebraist,  285. 

Luzzatto,  Samuel  David,  stimu- 
lated by  Rapoport,  59;  criti- 
cised, 76;  the  modern  culture 
of,  81-2;  birth  and  education 
of,  84-5;  learning  of,  85;  as 
editor,  85-6;  as  writer,  86; 


298 


INDEX 


romanticism  of,  86,  157,  219, 
285;  on  Jewish  nationality,  86- 
7;  on  the  Science  of  Judaism, 
87-8;  on  the  Jewish  religion, 
88-9;  on  Jewish  rationalism, 
89-90;  patriotism  of,  90-1;  dis- 
ciples of,  91;  works  by,  91;  in- 
fluence of,  on  his  contempo- 
raries, 91-2;  J.  L.  Gordon  on, 
92;  contributor  to  Ha-Maggid. 
161;  alluded  to,  195,  227,  232; 
and  Pines,  221;  Smolenskin 
compared  with,  235. 

Luzzatto  family,  the,  Rachel  Mor- 
purgo  of,  83. 

Lyck,  home  of  Ha-Maggid,   160. 

"  Lync  Harp,  The,"  by  Almanzi, 
'82. 

Ma'arke  Leshon  Eber,  by  Joshua 
Steinberg,  282  (n.). 

Maggidim,  the,   preachers,    53. 

Mahalalel,  pseudonym.  See  Gott- 
lober,  Abraham  Bar. 

Mahasike  ha-Dat,  Hebrew  periodi- 
cal,  244. 

Maitnon,  Solomon,  as  a  Hebrew 
writer,  42;  as  a  student  of 
German,  138. 

Maimonides,  alluded  to,  41,  63; 
criticised  by  S.  D.  Luzzatto, 
89;  studied  by  the  Lithuanian 
Jews,  99;  criticised  by  Smolen- 
skin, 233. 

Malbim,  defends  the  orthodox, 
116-17. 

Malherbe,   alluded  to,   36. 

Mandelkern,  Solomon,  poet,  con- 
tributor to  Ha-Shahar,  239-40. 

Mandelstamm,  Benjamin,  writer, 
155-6. 

Manne,   Mordecai   Zebi,   poet,  279. 

Manual  trades,  cultivated  by  the 
Jews,  163;  urged  for  Jews, 
207. 

Mapu,  Abraham,  influenced  by 
Krochmal,  68;  novelist,  134; 
family  of,  135,  140;  youth  and 
education  of,  135-6;  marriage 
of,  136;  student  of  the  Kabba- 
lah, 136-7;  studies  the  Bible 
in  Latin,  137-8;  as  tutor,  138- 
9;  modern  languages  studied 
by,  139;  influenced  by  Sue, 
139;  material  suffering  of, 
140;  first  romance  by,  140-50; 
naivete  of,  147;  task  accom- 
plished by,  147-8;  on  the  He- 
brew language,  150;  second 
20 


romance  by,  150-1;  technical 
faults  of,  151-2,  169;  other 
works  by,  152;  as  emancipator, 
165-9;  overdraws  his  char- 
acters, 167;  idealizes  the 
burgher,  168;  contrasts  paint- 
ed by,  168;  as  a  Zionist,  169, 
219;  alluded  to,  177;  influ- 
ences Lilienblum,  213;  criti- 
cised in  Ha-Shahar,  238; 
Brainin  on,  28?. 

Mapu,  Mattathias,  brother  of  the 
novelist,  135,  140. 

Martha,  personage  in  a  poem  by 
Gordon,  18 1. 

Maskilim,  the,  humanists  and  in- 
tellectuals, 12;  associations  of, 
29-30;  the  master  of,  37;  ori- 
gin of,  46;  society  of,  in  Am- 
sterdam, 77;  in  Galicia,  80- 1; 
attacked  by  Malbim,  117;  as 
depicted  by  Mapu,  168;  typi- 
fied in  Lilienblum,  217-18;  de- 
scribed by  Smolenskin,  263-4. 
See  also  Haskalah;  Humanism. 

Massa'  be-Lita,  work  by  Slouschz, 
93  (n.). 

"  Master  of  the  Lyre  and  the 
Cithern,"  poems  by  Letteris, 
72  (n.). 

"  Master  Pedagogue,  The,"  manual 
by  Mapu,  152. 

Matthan,  personage  in  Ahabat  Ziy- 
yon,  143. 

Maupassant,   alluded  to,   in. 

Meassefijn,  the,  a  school  of  Jewish 
"  intellectuals,"  30;  origin  of, 
31;  the  most  prominent  of, 
37;  scientific  writers  among, 
41-2;  Polish  authors  among, 
42;  characterized,  44-6;  in- 
fluence of,  on  Hebrew,  47;  in 
France,  48-50;  influence  the 
Polish  Jewish  scholars,  51,  55; 
contrasted  with  the  Hasidim, 
54;  Rapoport  disciple  of,  59- 
60;  in  Hamburg,  78;  influence 
of,  felt  in  Shklow,  101. 
See  also  Ha-Meassef. 

Megalle  Temirin,  parody  by  Perl, 
56  (n.). 

Megillat  Sedarim,  pamphlet  by 
Judah  Hurwitz,  98. 

Mehabber,  the,  vagabond  author, 
12,  81. 

Mehkere  Eres,  geography  by  Levin- 
sohn,  79. 

Meir  Lob  ben  Jehiel  Michael.  See 
Malbim. 


299 


INDEX 


Melisah,  the,  stilted  Hebrew  _  style, 
47;  the  epoch  of,  126;  in  fic- 
tion, 129;  devotees  of,  243. 

Melisat  Yeslrurun,  a  rhetoric  by 
Levinsohn,  79,  154. 

Meluhat   Shaiil,    drama   by   Efrati, 

Menahem  ha-Sofer,  novel  by  Ben- 
Avigdor,  281. 

Mendelsohn,  Moses,  of  Hamburg, 
one  of  the  Meassefim,  78. 

Mendelssohn,  Moses,  head  of  the 
Biurists,  30;  translates  the 
Bible  into  German,  31;  inter- 
ested in  Ha-Meassef,  31;  ar- 
ticles of,  in  Ha-Meassef,  33-4, 
40-1;  works  by,  41;  biographi- 
cal sketch  of,  41;  and  dog- 
matic principles,  46;  Smolen- 
skin  opposes  Jewish  concepts 
of,  232-3;  defended  by  Gott- 
lober,  234,  242;  influence  of, 
deprecated  by  Smolenskin, 
265. 

Mendes,  David  Franco,  poet,  imi- 
tator of  M.  H.  Luzzatto,  28, 
38;  contributor  to  Ha-Meassef, 
38;  devotee  of  Hebrew  litera- 
ture, 38,  47;  style  of,  38-9; 
imitated  by  Rapoport,  58;  as  a 
Hebraist,  285. 

Mesilat  Yesharim,  work  by  M.  H. 
Luzzatto,  26. 

"  Messenger,  The."  See  Ha- 
Mebasser. 

Messer  Leon,  Italian  Hebrew  au- 
thor, 19. 

Messiah,  the,  M.  H.  Luzzatto  in 
the  role  of,  27. 

Messiahs,  the  false,  Kahana  on, 
241. 

Messianic  hope,  the,  among  the 
Jews  of  Poland,  57;  disregard- 
ed by  the  Maskilim,  80;  de- 
fined by  Smolenskin,  232. 

Messias,  by  Klopstock,  influences 
Wessely,  35. 

Metchnikoff,  E.,  alluded  to,  101 
(n.). 

Midrash,  the,  drawn  upon  for  mod- 
ern Hebrew,  170;  fables  from, 
used  by  Gordon,  177-8. 

Migdal  'Oz,  drama  by  M.  H.  Luz- 
zatto, 21-3. 

Mikal.  See  Lebensohn,  Micah 
Joseph. 

Milhemet  ha-Dat,  by  Fabius  Mises, 

220. 


Military  service,   under  Alexander 

II,   159. 
See  also   Conscription. 

Mises,  Fabius,  defender  of  con- 
servatism, 220;  scientific 
writer,  243 ;  historian  of  phi- 
losophy, 282. 

Mises,  Judah,  writer,  opposed  by 
Rapoport,  60;  controversialist, 
75-6- 

Mishle  Asaph,  by  Satanow,  quoted, 
43-4- 

Mishle  Yehudah,  fables  by  Gor- 
don, 177-8. 

Mishnah,  the,  the  language  of,  in 
the  modern  Hebrew,  44. 

Mishpat,  personage  in  Luzzatto's 
drama,  24. 

Mission  of  the  Jews,  the,  and  his- 
torical Judaism,  46;  and 
Krochmal,  58. 

Mitnagged,   defined,   211    (n.). 

Moliere,  alluded  to,  115. 

Monastryshchina,  birthplace  of 
Smolenskin,  224. 

Montefiore,  alluded  to,   113. 

"  Moon,  The."     See  Ha-Yareah. 

"  Mordecai  Kisowitz,"  novel  by 
Brandstatter,  239. 

Moreh  Nebuke  ha-Zeman,  by 
Krochmal,  63-8. 

"  Morningstar,  The."  See  Ha- 
Zefirah. 

Morpurgo,  Rachel,  poetess,  82, 
83-4. 

Moscow,   Smolenskin  in,  247. 

Moses,  alluded  to,  89. 

Moses,  the  Epic  of,  by  Wessely, 
35-6. 

"  Moses  on  Mount  Abarim,"  poem 
by  M.  J.  Lebensohn,  132. 

"  Mourner,"  poem  by  Lebensohn, 
109-10. 

"  Mourning  Dove,  The,"  by  Let- 
teris,  popular,  128. 

Mulder,  Samuel,  poet  and  scholar, 
76-7. 

Muller,  David,  contributor  to  Ha- 
Shahar,  238. 

"  Mysteries  of  Paris,  The."  See 
Les  Mysteres  de  Paris. 

Naakat     Bat-Yehudah,     poem     by 

Lebensohn,   112. 
Naamah,  personage  in  Ahabat  Ziy- 

yon,    142. 
Nabal,    personage    in   Ahabat   Ziy- 

yon,    143. 


300 


INDEX 


Napoleon,  celebrated  by  Elie  Hal- 
fan  Halevy,  48;  on  Wilna, 
1 02. 

Napoleonic  conquests,  the,  and  the 
Jews,  48-50. 

National  Judaism,  championed  by 
Smolenskin,  229-30,  230-4. 

National  regeneration,  discussed  in 
Ha-Shahar,  246. 

Nationalism,  and  modern  Hebrew 
literature,  12,  16-17. 

Nekam  Bent,  last  novel  by  Smolen- 
skin, 269. 

Netherlands,  The,  Hebrew  litera- 
ture in,  19. 

Xeumark,  David,  writer  on  phi- 
losophy, 282. 

Xevakhovich,  Lob,  on  the  con- 
tempt for  Jews,  101-2. 

Nczah  Yisrael,  poem  by  Gottlober, 
i  S3- 

Nezem  Zahab,  poems  by  Almanzi, 
82.  * 

Nicholas  I,  of  Russia,  od6  on, 
107-8;  and  Levinsohn,  123; 
and  military  conscription,  125. 

"  Night  Thoughts,"  by  Young, 
imitated  by  Pappenheim,  39. 

"  No  Blood!  ",  work  by  Levinsohn, 
122. 

Nourelle  Hcloise,  the  Jewish,  14:, 
149. 

Nordau,  Max,  alluded  to,  78   (n.). 

Obscurantism,  combated  by  Ha- 
Shahar,  237-8. 

"  Observer,  The."    See  Ha-Mabbit. 

Odessa,  a  literary  centre,  119;  lit- 
erary activity  in,  152;  life  of 
the  Jews  of,  described  by 
Smolenskin,  268. 

'Olam  ha-Tohu,  by  Lilienblum, 
238. 

'Olam  ke-Minhago,  tale  by  Gordon, 
199. 

Orhot  ha-Talmud,  by  Lilienblum, 
210. 

"  Ornament  of  Gold,"  poems  by 
Almanzi,  82. 

Or   Nogah,  satire  by  Lieberman,  77. 

Ornstein,  Moses,  contributor  to 
Ha-Shahar,  242. 

Orot  me-Ofel,  by  Gottlober,  154 
(n.). 

Orthodox,    the,    defended,    116-17; 

oppose    the    Haskalah,    180. 
See  also   Conservatism;    Rabbin- 
ism;  Talmudic  Judaism. 


"  Othello,"  translated  into  He- 
brew, 245. 

Outdoor  life,  in  Gordon's  poems, 
i"7- 

Ovid,   Hebrew  version  of,    155. 

Ozar  Nehmad,   a  periodical,    56- 

Padua,  birthplace  of  M.  H.  Luz- 
zatto,  20. 

Palestine,  Hebrew  literature  in, 
19;  description  of,  by  Bloch, 
75',  geography  of,  by  Levin- 
sohn, 79;  Hebrew  journals  in, 
161;  emigration  to,  272-3. 
See  also  Holy  Land,  the. 

Paperna,  Abraham  Jacob,  critic, 
209. 

Pappenheim,  Solomon,  one  of  the 
Meassefim,  works  by,  39-40. 

'  Paradise,"  281. 

"  Paradise  Lost,"  translated  into 
Hebrew,  245. 

Paris,   Hebrew   journals   in,    161. 

Parodies,  in  Hebrew  literature, 
56-7  (n.). 

"  Parody  in  Jewish  Literature," 
by  Dr.  Israel  Davidson,  56 
(n.). 

Parusli,  recluse,   192. 

"  Path  of  the  Righteous,  The," 
work  by  M.  H.  Luzzatto,  26. 

"  Paths  of  the  Talmud,  The,"  by 
Lilienblum,  210. 

Pene  Tebel,  by  Moses  Mendelsohn, 
78. 

Peninnah,  personage  in  Ahabat 
Ziyyon,  144. 

Perez,  Isaac  Lob,  story  writer, 
280. 

Periodicals.  See  Hebrew  periodi- 
cals. 

Peri  To'elet,  Hebrew  periodical, 
S6. 

Perl,  Joseph,  patron  of  Hebrew 
letters,  55-6;  on  Hasidism,  56 
(n.);  patron  of  Rapoport,  59. 

"  Phaedon,"  work  by  Mendelssohn, 
41- 

Philosophy  of  Jewish  History,  a, 
by  Krochmal,  65-8. 

"  Pillars  of  the  Faith,  The."  See 
Mahasike  ha-Dat. 

"  Pillars  of  the  House  of  Judah, 
The,"  by  Hurwitz,  98-9. 

Pines,  Michael,  conservative  cham- 
pion, 220-2;  establishes  him- 
self in  Palestine,  272. 

Pines,  N.,  writer,  280. 


301 


INDEX 


Pinsker,   Leon,   Gordon    and,   202; 

supports     Palestinian     emigra- 
tion, 273-4. 

Pinsker,    Simhah,   writer,    119. 
"  Pioneer,  The."     See  He-Halus. 
Piperno,    Abraham    Baruch,    editor 

of  Italian   Hebrew  poetry,   82 

(n.). 
"  Plaintive    Dove,    The,"    by    Let- 

teris,  74-5. 
"  Poems   in   the   Holy   Language," 

by  Lebensohn,  113. 
"  Poems  of  Jeshurun,"  by  Shapiro, 

279. 
Poland,  modern  Hebrew  literature 

in,   16;  in  "  The  Synod  of  the 

Four  Countries,"  52;  the  Has- 

kalah  in,  55. 
Poland,  the  Jews  of,   organization 

and  traits  of,    51-3;   and  Has- 

kalah,   55;   and  the   Science  of 

Judaism,    62-3;    influenced    by 

Krochmal,  68. 
Polish  Rabbis,  held  in  esteem,  20-1, 

53- 
Polish  scholars,  the,  influenced  by 

the  Meassefim,  51. 
Poneviej,  Gordon  teacher  at,  174. 
Poriess,     A.,    contributor    to    Ha- 

Shahar,  242. 
Prague,   Rapoport  Rabbi  at,   59;   a 

literary       centre,       78        (n.) ; 

Smolenskin  in,  227. 
Primary  instruction  for  Jews,  207. 
"  Principles    of    the    Hebrew    Lan- 

§uage,  The,"  by  Joshua  Stein- 
erg,  282  (n.). 

Provence,  the,  Hebrew  literature 
in,  1 8. 

Psalms,  the,  imitated  by  M.  H. 
Luzzatto,  26. 

"  Public  Reproach,"  pamphlet  by 
Rapoport,  60. 

Rabbinical  seminaries  established, 
123;  patronized,  163;  nurseries 
of  atheism,  180. 

Rabbinowitz,  Saul  Phinehas,  editor 
a_nd  historian,  276. 

Rabbinism,  assailed  by  Judah 
Mises,  75;  attacked  by  Gor- 
don, 181,  194;  opponents  of, 
in  neo-Hebrew  literature, 
206-7,  208;  opposed  by  Smo- 
lenskin, 235;  defended  in  pe- 
riodicals, 244;  opposed  in  He- 
brew literature,  285-6. 
Sec  also  Conservatism;  Ortho- 
dox, the;  Talmudic  Judaism. 

Rabbis,   the,   ignorance  of,   113. 


Rabinovich,  Leon,  editor  of  Ha- 
Melts,  283. 

Rabinovitz,   Shalom,   writer,   280. 

Rabinowitz,   Hirsch,  scientist,   243. 

Racine,  imitated  by  Mendes,  38; 
a  favorite  with  the  Meassefim, 
45 ;  work  by,  translated  by 
Rapoport,  58;  dramas  of, 
translated  by  Letteris,  72. 

Ratnesh,    devotee    of   the   Melisah, 

243- 

Rapoport,  Solomon  Jehudah,  foun- 
der of  the  Science  of  Judaism, 
57-8;  education  and  youth  of, 
58;  works  by,  58-9,  61,  62; 
Jewish  attitude  of,  59-62;  in- 
fluences a  school  of  writers, 
68-9;  opposes  Hasidism,  69; 
encourages  Erter,  69;  assails 
Judah  Mises,  75;  alluded  to, 
80,  86,  227;  a  friend  of,  81 
(n.);  contributor  to  Ha-Mag- 
gid,  i 6 i. 

Rationalistic  character  of  modern 
Hebrew  literature,  10. 

Reaction,  the,  in  Lithuania,  124, 
125-6;  and  Gordon,  199-204. 

Reason,  in  Krochmal's  system, 
64-5. 

"  Recompense,  The,"  first  novel  by 
Smolenskin,  248. 

"  Recompense  of  the  Righteous, 
The,"  novel  by  Smolenskin, 
268. 

"  Reflections  on  Prayer,"  work  by 
Abraham  Krochmal,  208  (n.). 

Reform,  religious,  and  Hebrew  lit- 
erature, 77;  urged  by  the  op- 
ponents of  Rabbinism,  207;  de- 
manded by  Lilienblum,  210; 
Pines  on,  221;  Smolenskin  on, 
233-4!  defended  in  Ha-Kol 
244;  attacked,  274. 

Reforms,  how  received  in  Lith- 
uania, 164. 

Reggio,   Isaac   Samuel,  author,   82. 

Reifmann,  scientific  writer,  243. 

"  Religion  and  Life,"  novel  by 
Braudes,  216,  243. 

"  Religious  Hatred,"  pamphlet  by 
Nevakhovich,  101. 

Reshit  Limmudim,  treatise  by 
Baruch  Lindau,  41. 

Resise  ha-Melisah,  work  by 
Samoscz,  55. 

"  Revealer  of  Mysteries,  The," 
parody  by  Perl,  56  (n.). 

Revolutionary  Code,  the,  in  He- 
brew, 50  (n.). 


302 


INDEX 


Ritual  murder,  works  on,  118,  122. 

"  Robinson  Crusoe,"  translated 
into  Hebrew,  243. 

Rodkinson,  Michael,  editor  of  Ha- 
Kol,  208,  244. 

Roll,   Israel,  poet,    155. 

"  Roman   Poems,"  by   Roll,   155. 

Romanelli,  Samuel,  Italian  author, 
48. 

Romanticism,  Hebrew,  character- 
istic trait  of,  156-7;  influence 
of,  157- 

Rome,  scored  by  Gordon,  182. 

"  Romeo  and  Juliet,"  translated 
into  Hebrew,  245. 

"  Rose,  The,"  a  popular  poem,  128. 

Rossi.     See  Azariah  dei  Rossi. 

Rossieny,   humanist   centre,    140. 

Roumanian  Jews,  Smolenskin  in- 
vestigates the  life  of,  246,  268. 

Rousseau,  alluded  to,   141,  211. 

"  Royalty  of  Saul,  The,"  drama  by 
fcfrati,  75. 

Rubin,  Solomon,  contributor  to 
Ha-Shahar,  241. 

Russia,  Hebrew  journals  in,  162; 
visit  of  Smolenskin  to,  247. 

Russia  and  Turkey,  war  of,  and 
Jewish  nationalism,  246. 

Russian  language,  the,  used  by 
the  Jews,  163. 

Russification  of  the  Jews,  100. 

Safed,  M.  H.  Luzzatto  in,  27. 
St.    Petersburg,    J.    L.    Gordon   at, 

174;    Smolenskin   in,   247. 
Salkindson,    S.   A.,   translator,  245. 
Salvador,  alluded  to,  232. 
Samoscz,    David,    Galician    writer, 

"  Sampson  and  Delilah,"  work  by 

M.  H.  Luzzatto,  21. 
Samuel,   personage   in   a  novel  by 

Braudes,  216. 
Samuely,  writer,  280. 
Satanow,  Isaac,  one  of  the  Measse- 

fim,  works  and  style  of,  43-4. 
Schapira,  274. 
Schelling,  alluded  to,  131. 
Schereschewsky,    Zebi,    contributor 

to  Ha-Shahar,  242. 
Schiller,  a  favorite  with  the  Meas- 

sefim,     45;     alluded    to,     105; 

translated    into    Hebrew,    131; 

J.    L.    Gordon    influenced    by, 

176. 
Schorr,  editor  of  He-Haluz,  56,  60, 

208;      Rapoport     assails,      60; 

contributor  to  Ha-Shahar,  242. 


Schulman,  Kalman,  author,  trans- 
lates Les  Mysteres  de  Paris, 
128-9;  style  of,  129,  130; 
works  by,  129;  romanticist, 
219;  a  devotee  of  the  Melizah, 
243- 

Schulman,  Lazarus,  contributor  to 
Ha-Shahar,  241. 

Schulmann,  N.  H.,  editor  of  a  He- 
brew weekly,  101  (n.). 

Science  of  Judaism,  the,  and  his- 
torical Judaism,  45;  founder 
of,  58,  59;  inadequacy  of, 
62-3;  and  S.  D.  Luzzatto,  85, 
87-8;  a  journal  for,  162; 
popularized  by  Bernfeld,  282. 

"  Seekers  of  the  Good  and  the 
Noble,  The,"  a  Maskiiim  asso- 
ciation, 30. 

"  Seer  and  the  Searcher,  The," 
critical  work,  75-6. 

Sefer  ha-Berit,  encyclopedia,  by 
Elias  of  Wilna,  99. 

Sekel,  personage  in  Lebensohn's 
drama,  114,  116. 

Sekel,  personage  in  Luzzatto's 
drama,  24. 

Serfs,  liberation  of  the,  Gordon  on, 
179. 

Sha'are  Ziyyon,  Hebrew  periodical, 
244. 

Shadhan,  the,  in  'Ayit  Zabua', 
167-8. 

"  Shaft  of  the  Wagon,  The,"  satire 
by  Gordon,  193-4. 

Shamgar  ben  Anath,  personage  in 
a  poem  by  Gordon,  197. 

Shapiro,  Constantin,  lyric  poet, 
279. 

Shebnah,  personage  in  Ahabat  Ziy- 
yon, 145. 

Sheker,  personage  in  Lebensohn's 
drama,  114,  115. 

Sheker,  personage  in  Luzzatto's 
drama,  24. 

Shene  Yomim  we-Lailah  Ehad,  tale 
by  Gordon,  199. 

Shete  ha-Kezawot,  novel  by  Brau- 
des, 217  (n.). 

Shire  Bat-Ziyyon,  poems  by  M.  J. 
Lebensohn.  131. 

Shire  Romi,  poems  by  Roll,   155. 

Shire  Sefat  Kodesh,  poems  by 
Lebensohn,  113. 

Shire  Tiferet,  epic  by  Wessely, 
35-6. 

Shir  ha-Shalom,  by  Elie  Halfan 
Halevy,  48-9. 


303 


INDEX 


Shklow,  contact  between  Jews  and 
Russians  at,  100  (and  n.); 
litterateurs  at,  101. 

Shohare  ha-Tob  weha-Tushiyah,  a 
Maskilint  association,  30. 

Sibylline  books,  the,  translated 
into  Hebrew,  155,  282. 

Sifte  Renanot,  poems  by  Jehudah 
Lob  Levin,  240. 

Silberman,  Eliezer  Lipman,  editor 
of  Ha-Maggid,  160. 

Simon,  personage  in  a  novel  by 
Smolenskin,  261. 

Simon  the  Zealot,  personage  in  a 
poem  by  Gordon,  181. 

Sinat  ha-Dat,  pamphlet  by  Neva- 
khovich,  101. 

"  Sins  of  Youth,  The."  See  Hat- 
tot  Ne'uritn. 

Slavic  countries,  the,  spread  of 
Hebrew  in,  51;  Hebrew  litera- 
ture in,  76. 

Slobodka,  birthplace  of  Mapu,  135. 

Slonimski,  Hayyim  Selig,  editor  of 
Ha-Zefirah,  162. 

Slouschz,  N.,  work  by,  93  (n.). 

Smolenskin,  Leon,  brother  of  the 
great  writer,  224,  225. 

Smolenskin,  Perez,  novelist,  poem 
by  Gordon  to,  186-8;  optimism 
of,  199;  Gordon  on  the  death 
of,  205;  article  by,  on  Letteris, 
209-10;  leader  of  the  national 
progressive  movement,  22-?; 
parents  of,  224;  education  of, 
224-5;  privations  suffered  by, 
225-6;  early  writings  by,  226; 
travels  of,  227-8;  publishes  Ha- 
Shahar,  228-9;  as  nationalist 
Jew,  229-30,  230-4;  opposes 
Mendelssohn's  conception  of 

Judaism,  232-3;  analyzes  the 
ewish  religion,  233-4;  intre- 
pidity of,  234-5;  as  a  free- 
thinker, 235;  distinction  of, 
236;  arouses  interest  in 
science,  241 ;  deprecates  trans- 
lations, 243;  edits  a  weekly, 
244;  encourages  translations 
of  classics,  245;  investigates 
the  life  of  the  Roumanian 
Jews,  246;  reception  of,  in 
Russia,  247;  first  novel  by, 
248;  greatest  novel  by,  248-65; 
subjectivity  of,  252;  later  nov- 
els by,  265-9;  novels  by,  ap- 
preciated, 269-70;  in  favor  of 
emigration  to  Palestine,  272; 
end  of,  274.5;  nationalizes  He- 


brew  literature,    275;    Brainin 

on,  283;  alluded  to,  286. 
See    also    Ha-To'eh    be-Darke    ha- 

Hayyim. 

Socialist  journal  in  Hebrew,  244. 
Sokolow,     Nahum,     editor,     276; 

writer,   282. 
"  Solomon  and  Koheleth,"  poem  by 

M.  J.   Lebensohn,   131-2. 
"  Songs   of   Glory,"   epic   by   Wes- 

sely,  35-6. 
"  Songs  of  the  Daughter  of  Zion, 

The,"  poems  by  M.  J.  Leben- 
sohn,   131. 
Spain,    Hebrew    literature    in,    18; 

exodus     from,     subject     of     a 

poem  by  Gordon,  182. 
"  Stars,    The,"    poem    by    M.    J. 

Lebensohn,  133-4. 
"  Stars  of  Isaac,  The."     See  Ko- 

kebe  Yishak. 

Steinberg,  Jehudah,  writer,  280. 
Steinberg,     Joshua,     translator    of 

M.    J.    Lebensohn,    131     (n.); 

translator     of     the     Sibylline 

books,     155,    282;    philologist, 

282. 

Stern,  B.,  writer,  119. 
Stern,  I.,  editor  of  Kokebe  Yishak, 

56. 
Student,    the    Jewish,    Gordon    on, 

197-8. 
"  Successful     Labor."       See     Peri 

To'elet. 

Sudfeld,  Gabriel,  writer,  78   (n.). 
Sue,  Eugene,  novel  of,  translated, 

128;  and  Mapu,   139-40. 
Sur  I'eau,  by  Maupassant,  alluded 

to,  in. 
"  Sweet    Lyre,     The,"    poems    by 

S.  D.  Luzzatto,  86  (n.). 
"  Synod    of    the    Four    Countries, 
The,"  52,  93- 

Taawah,  personage  in  Luzzatto's 
drama,  24. 

Talmud,  the,  the  code  of  the  Lith- 
uanian Jews,  94;  study  of,  in 
Lithuania,  97;  drawn  upon  for 
modern  Hebrew,  170,  189. 

Talmud  Leshon  'Ibri,  grammar  by 
Ben-Zeeb,  42. 

Talmud  schools,  the,  of  Poland, 
famous,  52-3- 

Talmudic    Judaism,    defended    by 

Levinsohn,   122. 

See    also    Conservatism;    Ortho- 
dox, the;  Rabbinism. 


304 


INDEX 


Talmudic  language,  the,  in  paro- 
dies, 56  (n.). 

Tamar,  personage  in  Ahabat  Ziy- 
yon,  142. 

Tarmit,  personage  in  Luzzatto's 
drama,  24. 

Tarnopol,  Rapoport  Rabbi  at,  59. 

Tartufe,  a  Jewish,  115-16,  166, 
169. 

Taviow,  J.  H.,  writer,  281. 

Tchernichovski,   S.,   poet,  280. 

Technical  professions  urged  for 
Jews,  207. 

Tehillah,  personage  in  Luzzatto's 
drama,  24. 

Tekunat     ha-Rabbani;n,     work     by 

Mises,  75. 
'  Terror,"  the.     See  Behalah.  the. 

"  Testimony  in  Israel,"  work  by 
Levinsohn,  121. 

Te'udah  be-Yisrael,  work  by  Levin- 
sohn, 121. 

Thackeray,  Smolenskin  compared 
with,  269. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  The,  effect  of, 
on  the  Jews,  52. 

"  Time  to  Plant,  A,  and  a  Time  to 
Pluck  up  that  which  is  Plant- 
ed," by  Smolenskin,  232-3. 

Tirzah,  personage  in  Ahabat  Ziy- 
yon,  142. 

Titus,  personage  in  a  poem  by  Gor- 
don, 181,  182. 

"  To  the  Shepherds  of  Israel," 
pamphlet  by  Herz  Homberg, 
41. 

To'elet,  Maskilim  society  in  Am- 
sterdam, 77. 

Tofes  Kinnor  we-'Ugab,  poems  by 
Letteris,  72  (n.). 

Tokahat  Megullah,  pamphlet  by 
Rapoport,  60. 

Toledot  ha-Kabbalah  weha-Hasidut, 
work  by  Gottlober,  154. 

Toledot  ha-Teba',  by  S.  J.  Abramo- 
witsch,  169. 

Torat  ha-Adam,  37. 

"  Tower  of  Victory,  The,"  drama 
by_  M.  H.  Luzzatto,  22-3. 

Tradition,  History  of,  by  Weiss, 
242. 

"  Transgression  of  Samaria,  The." 
See  Ashmat  Shomerott. 

Translations,  not  accepted  by  Ha- 
Shahar,  229. 

Translations,  Hebrew,  deprecated 
by  Smolenskin,  243. 

"  Treatise  America,"  parody,  57 
(n.). 


"  Treatise    of    Commercial    Men," 

parody,  57   (n.). 

Treatise  Purim,"  parody,  57  (n.). 
'  Truth,  The."     See  Ha-Emet. 
"  Truth     and     Faith,"     drama    by 

Lebensohn,   114-17,   169. 
Turkey,    Hebrew   literature  in,    19. 
Turkey   and    Russia,    war   of,   and 

Jewish  nationalism,  246. 
Tushiyah,    publishing   society,    278. 
"  Two  Days  and  One  Night,"  tale 

by  Gordon,   199. 
"  Two    Extremes,    The,"   novel   by 

Braudes,   217    (n.). 
"Two  _  Joseph-ben-Simons,     The," 

satire  by  Gordon,  194-8. 

'Ugab    Rahel,    poems    by     Rachel 

Morpurgo,  83. 
Ukraine,    the,    devastated    by    the 

Cossacks,  53. 
Upsala,  alluded  to,  41. 
"  Useful    First   Fruits."     See  Bik- 

kitre  To'elet. 

"  Vale  of  Cedars,  The,"  translated 
into  Hebrew,  243. 

"  Value  of  Work,  The,"  poem  by 
Jehudah  Lob  Levin,  240. 

Vienna,  a  literary  centre,  78  (n.) ; 
Smolenskin  in,  227. 

Vigny,  Alfred  de,  alluded  to,  113. 

"  Voice,  The."     See  Ha-Kol. 

"  Voice  of  Song,  The,"  poems  by 
Eichenbaum,  120. 

"Voice  of  the  Harp,  The,"  He- 
brew anthology,  82  (n.). 

Voltaire,  alluded  to,  211. 

"  Wail  of  the  Daughter  of  Judah, 
The,"  poem  by  Lebensohn, 

112. 

"  Wanderer  Astray  on  the  Path  of 
Life,  A."  See  Ha-To'eh  be- 
Darke  ha-Hayyint. 

"  Wars  of  the  Faith,  The,"  by 
Fabius  Mises,  220. 

"  Watchman  for  the  House  of  Is- 
rael, The,"  essays  by  Erter, 
70. 

"  Watchman    in    the    Land   of   the 

Wanderer,  The." 
See  Ha-Zofeh  be-Erez  Nod. 

Wechsler,  contributor  to  Ha-Boker 
Or,  243. 

"  Weeping  Woman,  The,"  poem  by 
Lebensohn,  109. 

Weiss,  I.  H.,  scholar,  343. 


305 


INDEX 


Werbel,  Elias  Mordecai,  poet,  155. 

Werber,  Baruch,  editor  of  Ha- 
'Ibri,  162. 

Wessely,  Naphtali  Hartwig,  poet, 
imitator  of  M.  H.  Luzzatto, 
28;  head  of  the  Meassefim,  30, 
47;  interested  in  Ha-Meassef, 
31;  poem  by,  in  Ha-Meassef, 
33;  opposes  excessive  criticism, 
33;  education  of,  35;  works  of, 
35-6,  37;  character  of,  37;  on 
the  education  of  the  Jews,  37; 
a  disciple  of,  78;  and  Leben- 
sohn,  104;  alluded  to,  121; 
as  a  Hebraist,  285. 

Western  Jew,  the,  characterized  by 
Smolenskin,  227. 

Wilna,  headquarters  of  "  The  Syn- 
od of  the  Four  Countries," 
93;  invaded  by  Cossacks,  94; 
characterization  of,  by  Na- 
poleon, 102;  spirit  prevailing 
in,  102-3;  literary  circle  in, 
104;  Rabbinical  seminary  at, 
123;  University  of,  closed, 
124;  the  school  of,  conserva- 
tive, 157;  decline  of,  164; 
birthplace  of  J.  L.  Gordon, 
172. 

Wofsi,  personage  in  a  poem  by 
Gordon,  193. 

Wolfsohn,  editor  of  Ha-Meassef, 
34  (n.). 

Wolliynia,  home  of  the  Hasidim, 
54  (n.);  the  Jews  of,  depicted 
by  S.  J.  Abramowitsch,  170. 

Wolosin,  the  Yeshibah  at,  famous, 
98. 

Woman,  the  Jewish,  described  by 
Gordon,  189-91. 

"  Word  of  Criticism,  A,"  by  Kow- 
ner,  209. 

"  Words  of  Peace  and  Truth,"  by 
Wessely,  37. 

"World  as  It  is,  The,"  tale  by 
Gordon,  199. 

"  World  of  Chaos,  The,"  by  Lilien- 
blum,  238. 

"  Writing  and  the  Scriptures," 
work  by  Abraham  Krochmal, 
208  (n.). 

Yalde  Ruhi,  by  Pines,  220-1. 
Yehallel,   pseudonym.     See  Levin, 

Jehudah  Lob. 

Yellin,  David,  writer.  283. 
Yerfot    Shelomoh,    work   by    Pap- 

penheim,  40. 


Yeshibah,  the,  described  by  Smolen- 
skin, 255-61 ;  during  the  Beha- 
lah,  262;  the,  novel  on,  by 
Smolenskin,  268. 

Yeshibot,  the,  in  Lithuania,  97, 
98;  neglected,  163. 

Yeshumn,  Hebrew  periodical,  56. 

Yonah  Homiah,  poem  by  Letteris, 
74-5- 

Yoshebe  Tebcl,  drama  by  Deren- 
burg,  40  (n.). 

Yosher,  personage  in  Luzzatto's 
drama,  24. 

Young,  English  poet,  imitated  by 
Pappenheim,  39. 

"  Youth,"  by  Jeiteles,   78   (n.). 

Zaddik,  a,  character  in  a  novel  by 
Smolenskin,  251. 

Zaddik,  the,  Hasidic  wonder-work- 
er, 54. 

Zadok,  personage  in  'Ayit  Zabua', 
166,  167. 

"  Zeal  for  Truth,  The,"  work  by 
Judah  Mises,  75. 

Zederbaum,  Alexander,  editor  of 
Ha-Melis,  162-3. 

Zeker  Rab,  alluded  to,  101   (n.). 

Zeror  Pcrahim,  by  Kowner,  209. 

"  Zerubbabel,"  work  by  Levinsohn, 
121. 

Zhagor,  humanist  centre,  140. 

Zhitomir,  Rabbinical  seminary  at, 
123. 

Zibeon,  personage  in  Lebensohn's 
drama,  115. 

Zimri,  personage  in  Ahabat  Ziy- 
yon,  143. 

Zimri,  personage  in  Ashmat  Sho- 
ineron,  166. 

"  Zion,"   Hebrew   periodical,   56. 

"  Zionides,"  by  Dolitzki,  279. 

Zionism,  Gordon  not  converted  to, 
199,  201-2,  203;  the  develop- 
ment of,  stimulated,  273; 
spread  by  the  daily  Hebrew 
press,  276;  the  poet  of,  279; 
spiritual,  the  promoter  of, 
281 ;  the  predominant  note  in 
modern  Hebrew  literature, 
286. 

Zionist  poems,  by  Letteris,  73; 
character  of  popular  poetry, 
127;  strain,  in  M.  J.  Leben- 
sohn's poetry,  134;  idea,  pro- 
moted in  Ha-Maggid,  161, 
220;  strain,  in  Mapu,  169; 
poems,  by  Mandelkern,  240; 
novel,  by  Smolenskin,  269. 


306 


INDEX 


Zionists,     Braudes,    200,    273;    D. 

Gordon,  220;  Lilienblum,  200, 

273;    Mapu,    169,   219;    Pines, 

222. 
Zohar,    the,    imitated    by    M.    H. 

Luzzatto,  27. 


Zunz,  stimulated  by  Rapoport,  59; 
assists  Krochmal,  63;  criti- 
cised, 76;  works  of,  translated 
into  Hebrew,  76;  on  the  neces- 
sity of  Hebrew,  77. 


307 


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